Outline: a typical theropod
Xixianykus
"Xixia claw"
Type species Xixianykus zhangi
- Lived
- 90 to 84 million years ago, Late Cretaceous
- Diet
- Carnivore
- Group
- Theropods, Alvarezsauridae
- Found in
- China
- Named by
- Xu et al. 2010
Where its fossils were found
The evidence
Today
90 million years ago
Field notes
About Xixianykus
What it was like
Xixianykus was a small alvarezsaur, a bird-like dinosaur with very long legs and short arms. Its legs were built for running fast, and it may have been one of the best runners of all dinosaurs for its size.
Its world
It lived in the Late Cretaceous in what is now central China. Its bones come from the Majiacun Formation, where it shared the land with the troodontid Xixiasaurus and the plant eater Zhanghenglong.
How it was found
Xu and colleagues named Xixianykus in 2010, from a single find.
Lived alongside
Found in the same rock formations
Close relatives
Other members of Alvarezsauridae
Sources: WikidataNamed in: X. Xu, D.-Y. Wang, and C. Sullivan, D. W. E. Hone, F.-L. Han, R.-H. Yan, F.-M. Du. 2010. A basal parvicursorine (Theropoda: Alvarezsauridae) from the Upper Cretaceous of China. Zootaxa 2413:1-19