SHUVUUIA
a large-eyed alvarezsaurid theropod dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous of Mongolia.
Pronunciation: shu-VU-ya
Meaning: Bird
Author/s: Chiappe
et al. (
1998)
Synonyms: None known
First Discovery: Ömnögovi, Mongolia
Discovery Chart Position: #430
Shuvuuia deserti
(Desert bird)Etymology
Shuvuuia is derived from the Mongolian word "shuvuu" meaning "bird".
The
species epithet,
deserti, refers to the semi-arid deposits of the Djadokhta Formation in which its fossils were discovered.
Discovery
The first remains of
Shuvuuia were discovered in the Djadokhta Formation at "Ukhaa Tolgod", Ömnögovi (South Gobi) Aaimag (Province), Mongolia, by joint expeditions of the American Museum of Natural History and the Mongolian Academy of Sciences.
The
holotype (MGI 100/975) is a partial skeleton that was previously referred to
Mononykus along with MGI 100/1001 (a skull and right jaw, also from Ukhaa Tolgod) and MGI N100/99 (from Tugrugeen Shireh). A second beautifully-preserved skull (MGI 100/977) was also found in Ukhaa Tolgod.
Estimations
Timeline:
Era: Mesozoic
Epoch: Late Cretaceous
Stage: Campanian
Age range: 84-71 mya
Stats:
Est. max. length: 1 meters
Est. max. hip height: 0.3 meters
Est. max. weight: 4 Kg
Diet: Carnivore
References
• Chiappe LM, Norell MA and Clark JM (1998) "The skull of a relative of the stem-group bird
Mononykus".
Nature, 392(6673): 275-278. DOI: 10.1038/32642.
• Chiappe LM, Norell MA and Clark JM (2002) "The Cretaceous short-armed Alvarezsauridae.
Mononykus and its kin". In "
Mesozoic Birds: Above the Heads of Dinosaurs".
• Suzuki S, Chiappe L, Dyke G, Watabe M, Barsbold R and and Tsogtbaatar K (2002) "A new specimen of
Shuvuuia deserti Chiappe
et al., 1998, from the Mongolian Late Cretaceous with a discussion of the relationships of alvarezsaurids to other theropod dinosaurs."
Contributions in Science, 494: 1-18.
• Longrich NR and Currie PJ (2009) "
Albertonykus borealis, a new alvarezsaur (Dinosauria: Theropoda) from the Early Maastrichtian of Alberta, Canada: Implications for the systematics and ecology of the Alvarezsauridae".
Cretaceous Research, 30(1): 239-252. DOI: 10.1016/j.cretres.2008.07.005.
• Schweitzer MH, Watt JA, Avci R, Knapp L, Chiappe L, Norell MA and Marshall M (1999) "Beta-keratin specific immunological reactivity in feather-like structures of the Cretaceous alvarezsaurid,
Shuvuuia deserti".
Journal of Experimental Zoology, 285(2): 146-157. DOI: 110.1002/(SICI)1097-010X(19990815)285:2<146::AID-JEZ7>3.0.CO;2-A.
• Brett-Surman, Holtz and Farlow (2012) "
The Complete Dinosaur: Second Edition".
• Paul GS (2016) "
The Princeton Field Guide to Dinosaurs: Second Edition".
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To cite this page:
Atkinson, L.
"
SHUVUUIA :: from DinoChecker's dinosaur archive".
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http://www.dinochecker.com/dinosaurs/SHUVUUIA›. Web access: 06th Mar 2026.
