Alvarezsaurus

Alvarezsaurus is a small dinosaur from the Upper Cretaceous of Argentina, about 86–83 million years ago. It measured about two meters in length and weighed 20 kilograms.

Alvarezsaurus Temporal range: Upper Cretaceous
Skeleton restoration
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Superorder:	Dinosauria
Order:	Saurischia
Suborder:	Theropoda
Family:	Alvarezsauridae
Genus:	Alvarezsaurus Bonaparte, 1991
Species
A. calvoi Bonaparte, 1991 (type)

It was named by paleontologist Jose Bonaparte in 1991. It walked on two legs, had a long tail, and its leg structure suggests that it was a fast runner.^[1] It may have eaten insects. It was more basal than other, better-known, members of its family, such as Mononykus and Shuvuuia.

In popular culture

Alvarezsaurus was featured in the Discovery Channel television series Dinosaur Planet. It was shown as a predator of young Saltasaurus, although these species did not exist at the same time. Alvarezsaurus lived about five million years before Saltasaurus.