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Bonapartenykus, new alvarezsaurid from Argentina found with eggs



From: Ben Creisler
bscreisler@yahoo.com
 
 
A new online advance paper in Cretaceous Research:
 
Federico L. Agnolin, Jaime E. Powell, Fernando E. Novas & Martin Kundrát (2011 
[2012])
New alvarezsaurid (Dinosauria, Theropoda) from uppermost Cretaceous of 
north-western Patagonia with associated eggs.
Cretaceous Research (advance online publication)
doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2011.11.014| 
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0195667111001923
 
 
The Alvarezsauridae represents a branch of peculiar basal coelurosaurs with an 
increasing representation of their Cretaceous radiation distributed worldwide. 
Here we describe a new member of the group, Bonapartenykus ultimus gen. et sp. 
nov. from Campanian-Maastrichtian strata of Northern Patagonia, Argentina. 
Bonapartenykus is represented by a single, incomplete postcranial skeleton. The 
morphology of the known skeletal elements suggests close affinities with the 
previously described taxon from Patagonia, Patagonykus, and both conform to a 
new clade, here termed Patagonykinae nov. Two incomplete eggs have been 
discovered in association with the skeletal remains of Bonapartenykus, and 
several clusters of broken eggshells of the same identity were also found in a 
close proximity. These belong to the new ooparataxon Arraigadoolithus 
patagoniensis of the new oofamily Arraigadoolithidae, which provides first 
insights into unique shell microstructure and
 fungal contamination of eggs laid by alvarezsaurid theropods. The detailed 
study of the eggs sheds new light on the phylogenetic position of 
alvarezsaurids within the Theropoda, and the evolution of eggs among 
Coelurosauria. We suggest that plesiomorphic alvarezsaurids survived in 
Patagonia until the latest Cretaceous, whereas these basal forms became extinct 
elsewhere.