Genus
Valid Extinct

Linhenykus

Xu et al. 2011

Linhenykus is an extinct genus of alvarezsaurid theropod dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous of Inner Mongolia, China. It is the most basal known member of the Parvicursorinae. The genus gets its name from Linhe, a city near the site where the fossil was first found and Greek nykus, "claw". The specific name is derived from Greek monos, "single", and daktylos, "finger", a reference to the fact that it is the only known non-avian dinosaur to have had but a single digit.

Temporal range
Triassic
Jurassic
Cretaceous
Paleogene
Neogene
252 201 145 66 0 Ma
PBDB occurrences
2
Group
Dinosaures
Carnivore Ground dwelling, solitary Terrestrial
Linhenykus
click to enlarge
Alvarezsauroid theropod Linhenykus monodactylus Xu, Sullivan, Pittman, Choiniere, Hone, Upchurch, Tan, Xiao, Tan, and Han, 2011a, Bayan Mandahu (“Gate Locality”), Late Cretaceous (Campanian), holo−type (IVPP V17608). Skeletal silhouette showing preserved bones (missing portions shown in grey). © Xing Xu, Paul Upchurch, Qingyu Ma, Michael Pittman, Jonah Choiniere, Corwin Sullivan, David W.E. Hone, Qingwei Tan, Lin Tan, Dong Xiao, and Fenglu Han · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia
PBDB ↗ Wikipedia ↗
Classification
Dinosauria Unranked clade
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Theropoda Unranked clade
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Neotheropoda Unranked clade
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Averostra Unranked clade
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Tetanurae Unranked clade
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Coelurosauria Unranked clade
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Alvarezsauria Infraorder
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Alvarezsauroidea Unranked clade
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Alvarezsauridae Family
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Parvicursorinae Subfamily
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Linhenykus Genus
Measurements
Length
0,65 m ⓘ
Linhenykus monodactylus
Mass
0,45 kg ⓘ
Linhenykus monodactylus
Fossil sites 2 geolocated sites
Distribution
Top countries
🇨🇳 China
2
Geological formations
Wulansuhai
2
Temporal distribution
Campanian (83.6–72.2 Ma)
2
Species (1)
Linhenykus monodactylus 84 Ma
Images 1
Bibliography
Original description
X. Xu, C. Sullivan, and M. Pittman, J. N. Choiniere, D. Hone, P. Upchurch, Q. Tan, D. Xiao, L. Tan, F. Han. 2011. A monodactyl nonavian dinosaur and the complex evolution of the alvarezsauroid hand. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 108(6):2338-2342 DOI ↗
Bibliography (2)
D. W. E. Hone, J. N. Choiniere, and Q. Tan, X. Xu. 2013. An articulated pes from a small parvicursorine alvarezsauroid dinosaur from Inner Mongolia, China. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 58(3):453-458 DOI ↗
X. Xu, C. Sullivan, and M. Pittman, J. N. Choiniere, D. Hone, P. Upchurch, Q. Tan, D. Xiao, L. Tan, F. Han. 2011. A monodactyl nonavian dinosaur and the complex evolution of the alvarezsauroid hand. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 108(6):2338-2342 DOI ↗