Patagonykus

Patagonykus Temporal range: Turonian-Early Coniacian ~90.5–88.5 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
Reconstructed skeleton
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Clade:	Dinosauria
Clade:	Saurischia
Clade:	Theropoda
Clade:	†Patagonykinae
Genus:	†Patagonykus Novas, 1996
Species:	†P. puertai
Binomial name
†Patagonykus puertai Novas, 1996

Patagonykus (meaning "Patagonian claw") is a genus of theropod dinosaur from the Upper Cretaceous of Argentina. This alvarezsauroid was discovered in exposures of the Portezuelo Formation (Turonian-Coniacian) of the Rio Neuquén Subgroup in the Neuquén Basin, Neuquen Province of Patagonia, Argentina. The holotype consists of an incomplete but well-preserved skeleton, lacking a skull, but including many vertebrae, the coracoids, a partial forelimb, pelvic girdle, and hindlimbs. Patagonykus has been classed with the Alvarezsauridae, a family which includes such taxa as the Mongolian Mononykus and the Argentinian Alvarezsaurus. In 2010 Gregory S. Paul estimated its length at 1 meter (3.3 ft) and its weight at 3.5 kg (7.7 lbs).[1]

Classification

Agnolin et al. (2012) originally placed Patagonykus within Alvarezsauridae, within the clade Patagonykinae as sister taxon to Bonapartenykus.[2] Makovicky, Apesteguía and Gianechini (2012) found it to be in a polytomy with Alnashetri, Bonapartenykus, and a clade containing more deeply nested taxa such as Linhenykus, Mononykus and Albinykus.[3] However, Xu et al. (2018) positioned it as a basal Alvarezsauroidea, sister taxon to Patagonykus and Achillesaurus, which was also recovered by Fowler et al. (2020).[4][5] Patagonykus has also been recovered as sister taxon to Bonapartenykus and Alvarezsauridae by Qin et al. (2019), and sister taxon to only Patagonykus outside of Alvarezsauridae by Averianov & Lopatin (2022a) and Averianov & Lopatin (2022b).[6][7][8]

A phylogenetic analysis conducted by Fowler et al. (2020) is reproduced below.[5]

Alvarezsauroidea	Aorun Haplocheirus Tugulusaurus Xiyunykus Bannykus Bonapartenykus Patagonykus Achillesaurus Alvarezsauridae Alvarezsaurus Albertonykus Parvicursorinae Shuvuuia Ceratonykus Kol Linhenykus Mononykus Trierarchuncus Parvicursor Albinykus Xixianykus

Reconstruction

The results of an earlier analysis by Agnolin et al. (2012) are reproduced below.[2]

Alvarezsauridae	Patagonykinae Patagonykus Bonapartenykus unnamed Alvarezsaurus Parvicursorinae Ceratonykini Ceratonykus Xixianykus Albinykus Parvicursor Mononykini Albertonykus Mononykus Linhenykus Shuvuuia

References

1. Paul, Gregory S. (2010). The Princeton Field Guide to Dinosaurs. New Jersey: Princeton University Press. p. 127.
2. Agnolin, Federico L.; Powell, Jaime E.; Novas, Fernando E.; Kundrát, Martin (2012-06-01). "New alvarezsaurid (Dinosauria, Theropoda) from uppermost Cretaceous of north-western Patagonia with associated eggs". Cretaceous Research. 35: 33–56. Bibcode:2012CrRes..35...33A. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2011.11.014. ISSN 0195-6671.
3. Makovicky, P. J.; Apesteguía, S. N.; Gianechini, F. A. (2012). "A New Coelurosaurian Theropod from the La Buitrera Fossil Locality of Río Negro, Argentina". Fieldiana Life and Earth Sciences. 5: 90–98. doi:10.3158/2158-5520-5.1.90. S2CID 129758444.
4. Xu, Xing; Choiniere, Jonah; Tan, Qingwei; Benson, Roger B.J; Clark, James; Sullivan, Corwin; Zhao, Qi; Han, Fenglu; Ma, Qingyu; He, Yiming; Wang, Shuo; Xing, Hai; Tan, Lin (2018). "Two Early Cretaceous Fossils Document Transitional Stages in Alvarezsaurian Dinosaur Evolution". Current Biology. 28 (17): 2853–2860.e3. Bibcode:2018CBio...28E2853X. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2018.07.057. PMID 30146153.
5. Denver W. Fowler; John P. Wilson; Elizabeth A. Freedman Fowler; Christopher R. Noto; Daniel Anduza; John R. Horner (2020). "Trierarchuncus prairiensis gen. et sp. nov., the last alvarezsaurid: Hell Creek Formation (uppermost Maastrichtian), Montana". Cretaceous Research. 116: Article 104560. Bibcode:2020CrRes.11604560F. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2020.104560. S2CID 225630913.
6. Qin, Zichuan; Clark, James; Choiniere, Jonah; Xu, Xing (2019). "A new alvarezsaurian theropod from the Upper Jurassic Shishugou Formation of western China". Scientific Reports. 9 (1): 11727. Bibcode:2019NatSR...911727Q. doi:10.1038/s41598-019-48148-7. PMC 6692367. PMID 31409823. S2CID 199543191.
7. Alexander O. Averianov; Alexey V. Lopatin (19 February 2022). "A new alvarezsaurid theropod dinosaur from the Upper Cretaceous of Gobi Desert, Mongolia". Cretaceous Research. 134: 105168. Bibcode:2022CrRes.13505168A. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2022.105168. S2CID 247000540. Retrieved 19 February 2022.
8. Averianov AO, Lopatin AV (2022). "A re-appraisal of Parvicursor remotus from the Late Cretaceous of Mongolia: implications for the phylogeny and taxonomy of alvarezsaurid theropod dinosaurs". Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. 19 (16): 1097–1128. doi:10.1080/14772019.2021.2013965. S2CID 247222017.

Further reading

• F. E. Novas. 1994. Patagonykus puertai n. gen. et sp., and the phylogenetic relationships of the Alvarezsauridae (Theropoda, Maniraptora). VI Congreso Argentino de Paleontología y Bioestratigrafía, R. Cúneo (ed), Museo Paleontológico Egidio Feruglio, Trelew.
• Novas, F. E. 1997. Anatomy of Patagonykus puertai (Theropoda, Avialae, Alvarezsauridae), from the Late Cretaceous of Patagonia. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 17(1); 137–166.
• Novas, F. E. and Molnar, R. E. (eds.) 1996. Alvarezsauridae, Cretaceous basal birds from Patagonia and Mongolia. Proceedings of the Gondwanan Dinosaur Symposium, Brisbane. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 39(3):iv + 489–731; 675–702.

External links

• "Coelurosauria: Alvarezsauridae". Palaeos. Archived from the original on April 9, 2023.