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Parvicursor

Say it: PAR-vee-kur-sor

Name means: “small runner”1

Ate: MeatOdd feathered dinosLate Cretaceous

Parvicursor was a tiny, speedy dinosaur that lived in the Late Cretaceous of Mongolia. It ran on long, slender legs and probably chased after small insects. It was one of the smallest adult dinosaurs ever found, about the size of a chicken.1

Lived

84 to 72 million years ago3

Late Cretaceous

Fossils found in

Khulsan, Barun Goyot Formation, Mongolia1 2

Food

Meat3 1

Length

0.39 m1

about 39 cm from snout to tail tip, but this is a juvenile

Weight

0.162 kg1

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

How big was it?

How long was it?

How heavy was it?

as heavy as 1.5 bananas

lighter than a house cat

How big was Parvicursor compared to YOU?

Just maths in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.

cool stuff

Fun facts

Parvicursor had a single large claw on each hand, which it may have used to tear open termite mounds or dig for food.1

Its name means 'small runner', and it was built for speed with long, slender legs.1

Scientists think Parvicursor was a juvenile, not a full-grown adult, because its bones show it was still growing.1

It lived about 72 million years ago, during the Late Cretaceous period.1

Some scientists think that Linhenykus and Ceratonykus might actually be the same animal as Parvicursor.1

AI-made picture of Parvicursor — An AI-made picture of how Parvicursor might have looked, made by a computer from what scientists know. It is a guess: the real animal may have looked different, and nobody knows its true colours.

you asked

Most asked questions about Parvicursor

?How big was Parvicursor?

It was about 39 centimetres long from snout to tail tip and weighed about 162 grams, about the size of a chicken.1

?What did Parvicursor eat?

It probably ate small insects and may have used its single large claw to tear open termite mounds or dig for food.1

?Was Parvicursor a dinosaur?

Yes, it was a very small alvarezsaurid theropod dinosaur that lived during the Late Cretaceous period.1

?How fast could Parvicursor run?

Nobody knows its exact speed, but its name means 'small runner' and it had long, slender legs built for fast running.1

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Myth buster

Myth: People often think Parvicursor was a bird because it was tiny and feathered, but it was a dinosaur.

Truth: Parvicursor was a theropod dinosaur, not a bird, even though it had feathers and was small.1

For dino experts

Scientific name: Parvicursor
Named by: Karhu and Rautian 19963
Group: Odd feathered dinos
Family / clade: Alvarezsauridae3
Classification: Theropoda > Alvarezsauridae3
Age of the rocks: 84 to 72 million years (Campanian)3
Rock formations: Baruungoyot3
Countries: Mongolia3
Fossil records: 1 in the Paleobiology Database3
Discovery: The first fossil, a partial skeleton with vertebrae, pelvis, and a hind leg, was found in 1992 and described in 1996 by Karhu and Rautian.1
Still debated: Scientists still debate whether some other tiny alvarezsaurids, like Linhenykus and Ceratonykus, are really the same species as Parvicursor.1

Where the facts come from

Parvicursor (en.wikipedia.org)
PBDB Taxon (paleobiodb.org)
Parvicursor in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.

Every fact on this page has a number that points to its source. If we got something wrong, sorry, we are dino fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.

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