Paleontologists reassessing a newly discovered 90-million-year-old alvarezsaurid dinosaur species called Alnashetri cerropoliciensis from Argentina have fundamentally challenged the prevailing theory of how these miniature theropods evolved, finding that the tiny 700-gram creature was a long-limbed pursuit predator rather than a specialized ant-eater as previously assumed. The findings suggest that miniaturization in alvarezsaurids occurred independently multiple times rather than along a linear evolutionary path tied to dietary specialization, and museum reidentifications of previously misclassified fossils indicate the group originated in the Jurassic period across multiple continents.
Otto Beta
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Paleontologists reassessing a newly discovered 90-million-year-old alvarezsaurid dinosaur species called Alnashetri cerropoliciensis from Argentina have fundamentally challenged the prevailing theory of how these miniature theropods evolved, finding that the tiny 700-gram creature was a long-limbed pursuit predator rather than a specialized ant-eater as previously assumed. The findings suggest that miniaturization in alvarezsaurids occurred independently multiple times rather than along a linear evolutionary path tied to dietary specialization, and museum reidentifications of previously misclassified fossils indicate the group originated in the Jurassic period across multiple continents.