page_title: Shuvuuia
section_title: Description
hierarchical_section_title: Shuvuuia / Description
caption_attribution_description: English: Size comparison of several parvicursorine dinosaurs. From left to right: Parvicursor remotus (green), Ceratonykus oculatus (red), Shuvuuia deserti (blue), and Mononykus olecranus (violet). Scaled to tibia length in their respective descriptions.
context_page_description: Shuvuuia is a genus of bird-like theropod dinosaur from the late Cretaceous period of Mongolia. It is a member of the family Alvarezsauridae, small coelurosaurian dinosaurs which are characterized by short but powerful forelimbs specialized for digging. The type species is Shuvuuia deserti, or "desert bird". The name Shuvuuia is derived from the Mongolian word shuvuu meaning "bird".
context_section_description: Shuvuuia was a small and lightly built animal. At 60 cm (2 ft) in length it is one of the smallest known non-avian dinosaurs. The skull is lightly built with long and slender jaws and minute teeth. Shuvuuia is unique among non-avian theropods in the skull's ability to perform prokinesis, that is, it could flex its upper jaw independently of its braincase.
  The hindlimbs of Shuvuuia were long, slender, and short-toed, which may indicate significant running capabilities. The forelimbs, however, were unusually short and powerfully constructed. Although originally Shuvuuia and other alvarezsaurids were thought to have only a single digit on the front limb, newer specimens show the presence of reduced second and third fingers in addition to the massively enlarged thumb known from previous specimens. Like other alvarezsaurids, Shuvuuia may have used its forelimbs to open insect nests, and its slender, unusually mobile jaws to probe after such prey.
  Fossils of Shuvuuia are currently known from two locations within the Djadochta Formation: Ukhaa Tolgod and Tögrögiin Shiree. These sites are thought to be about 75 million years old (late Campanian age). Contemporary genera included Velociraptor and Protoceratops.
caption: Size of various Alvarezsaurids compared to a human, Shuvuuia in blue.
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