Overview
- Researchers describe an exceptionally preserved, near-complete Alnashetri cerropoliciensis from La Buitrera in Patagonia, dated to about 95 million years ago.
- Anatomy shows a very small, agile theropod with relatively long forelimbs and larger teeth, indicating diminutive body size preceded later extreme hand and skull specializations.
- Phylogenetic results place Alnashetri as a basal alvarezsaurid, supporting an earlier origin and pre-breakup dispersal that explains the group's broad geographic spread.
- Bone histology indicates the individual was at least four years old and likely female based on medullary bone.
- The new framework led to reidentification of previously misclassified material, including specimens from Wyoming and the Isle of Wight, and the fossil is now curated at the Museo Provincial Carlos Ameghino.