Reconstructed skeleton at the American Museum of Natural History
Scientific classification
Domain:
Eukaryota
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Chordata
Clade:
Dinosauria
Clade:
Saurischia
Clade:
Theropoda
Family:
†Alvarezsauridae
Subfamily:
†Parvicursorinae
Tribe:
†Mononykini
Genus:
†Mononykus Perle et al., 1993
Type species
†Mononykus olecranus
Perle et al., 1993
Synonyms
Mononychus olecranus Perle et al., 1993 (preoccupied generic name)
Mononykus (/məˈnɒnɪkəs/mə-NON-ik-əs, sometimes /ˌmɒnoʊˈnaɪkəs/MON-oh-NY-kəs; meaning "one claw") is a genus of alvarezsaurid dinosaur that lived during the Late Cretaceous in what is now Asia on the Nemegt Formation, about 70 million years ago.
Mononykus was a very small theropod, estimated around 1 to 1.2 metres (3.3 to 3.9 ft) in length with a weight of 3.5 kilograms (7.7 lb). As in Shuvuuia, Mononykus likely developed a shaggy feathering. It was lightly built with long, thin legs and highly reduced and specialized forelimbs that were likely used for foraging termite mounds or other insect colonies.
many reconstructions of Mononykus in art and mounted skeletons in museums are in fact based mainly on Shuvuuia. While Mononykus was formally described...
name to Mononykus, because the earlier spelling was already the genus name of an extant beetle. Perle et al. mistakenly described Mononykus as a member...
the second alvarezsaur known from the Nemegt Formation, the other being Mononykus. In 2008, the Korea-Mongolia International Dinosaur Expedition at the...
ear anatomy with barn owls, it is theorized that the feathered dinosaur Mononykus may also have had a facial disc. Choiniere, Jonah N.; Neenan, James M...
defined as a clade by Luis Chiappe in 1995 as the last common ancestor of Mononykus and modern birds, and all its descendants. Pennaraptora (Latin penna "bird...
Alvarezsaurus is considered basal to better-known members of its family, such as Mononykus and Shuvuuia. It has been alternately classified with both non-avian theropod...
the Alvarezsauridae, a family which includes such taxa as the Mongolian Mononykus and the Argentinian Alvarezsaurus. In 2010 Gregory S. Paul estimated its...
Sinosauropteryx, and perhaps Juravenator and Scipionyx. At one time, Mononykus was proposed as a member of the family, but this was rejected by Chen...
which do not show all bird-like features as the first discovered species Mononykus and Shuvuuia. This shows that bird-like characteristics were developed...
Velociraptor hunts for lizards among a group of sleeping Tarbosaurus. A Mononykus forages for termites and investigates new food options after a brief rainstorm...
Sinosauropteryx, and perhaps Juravenator and Scipionyx. At one time, Mononykus was proposed as a member of the family, but this was rejected by Chen...
titanosaurs sauropods Nemegtosaurus and Opisthocoelicaudia, the alvarezsaurid Mononykus, three types of troodontids including Zanabazar, several oviraptorosaurians...
the condition seen in basal alvarezsauroids such as Haplocheirus. As in Mononykus and Patagonykus, both the prespinal and postspinal fossae are very deep...
types of plant life, insects, and small dinosaurs like Shuvuuia and Mononykus. Mononykus, Shuvuuia and the Velociraptor were among the dinosaurs that are...
vertebrae. The vertebral centra expand slightly more wider than those of Mononykus and are slightly more narrower than those of Shuvuuia. The diapophyses...
diverse and rich, composed of other dinosaurs such as the alvarezsaurs Mononykus and Nemegtonykus; deinonychosaurs Adasaurus, and Zanabazar; ornithomimosaurs...
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