(from the forthcoming "A Field Guide of Dinosaurs" by Henry Gee and
Luis V. Rey)
Acrylics and inks on cardboard.
Found in Mongolia's Gobi desert, the strange Shuvuuia (an alvarezsaurid
like Mononykus) has been the source of debate for a long time. Can
alvarezsaurids be formally classified as "Aves"? Are they just
dinobirds(redundant as it sounds)? Or are they, as Paul Sereno proposes in
"New Perspectives on the Origin and Early Evolution of Birds. Ostrom
Symposium", modified ornithomimids? Until recently alvarezsaurids were
reconstructed with smaller heads. This reconstruction is based on the
latest Paul Sereno's paper where he shows an incredibly detailed and
complete head that actually is bigger than thought before. Mary
Schweitzer has made an important study of the "dino fuzz" fossilised
integument found with the specimen and arrived to the conclusion that the
main chemical component is Beta-Keratin: Important demonstration that
"dino fuzz" is in reality feathers. The forelimbs have been a double
source of puzzlement: Extremely short and stout with just one big first
claw and the atrophied remnants of the other two digits: They must have
had a very specific function. Nick Longrich did a presentation at the last
two Society of Vertebrate Paleontology meetings on Shuvuuia and the
closely related Mononykus concluding that they could have been ant or
termite feeders (as it is shown here). Termite mounds are known as far
back as the Triassic, so it is a distinct possibility although we might
never know for sure.
