Parvicursor

PARVICURSOR
PARVICURSOR

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
PARVICURSOR |
Temporal range: Late Cretaceous |
Scientific classification |
Kingdom: Animalia |
Phylum: Chordata |
Class:Sauropsida |
Superorder: Dinosauria |
Order: Saurischia |
Suborder: Theropoda |
Family: Alvarezsauridae |
Genus: Parvicursor |
Karhu & Rautian, 1996 |
Species |
P. remotus Karhu& Rautian, 1996 (type) |

Parvicursor (meaning "small runner") is a genus of tiny maniraptoran dinosaur with long slender legs for fast running. At only about 39 cm (~15 in) from snout to end oftail, and 162 grams (5.7 ounces) in weight, it is one of the smallest non-avian dinosaurs known from an adult specimen. Size of P. remotus (red) compared to other small theropods.
Like othermembers of the family Alvarezsauridae, the forelimbs of Parvicursor were short and stubby, with hands all but completely reduced to a single large claw, possibly useful for opening tough termite mounds orother types of digging. It is unlikely that the claw could have served much for defense, as it was short and not adapted for flexible movements — it is more likely it would do as the animal's nameimplies: cursor means runner.
Parvicursor is known from Late Cretaceous Campanian sediments at Khulsan, Mongolia. The type species, P. remotus, is only known from one incomplete specimen, mostly pelvisand hind legs. Close relatives include Shuvuuia and Mononykus, and together with these it is classified in the alvarezsaurid subfamily Alvarezsauridae.
There may be a second, yet-unnamed, species ofParvicursor. Two specimens of tiny alvarezsaurids were described by Suzuki et al. in 2002. These authors considered the specimens to be juvenile Shuvuuia, which lived in the same formation. However, astudy by Nick Longrich and Phil Currie in 2009 suggested that several characters of the skeleton, including fused wrist and pelvic bones, indicated that these specimens were in fact adults of a...