Welcome to Achillesaurus
Name Definition
Achilles’s lizard
Name Given By
Martinelli & Vera, 2007
Location
Bajo de la Carpa Formation in Rio Negro Province, Argentina
Classification
Dinosauria, Saurischia, Theropoda, Maniraptora, Alvarezsauridae
Size
Size is unavailable
Temporal Range
Santonian stage of the late Cretaceous epoch, about 85 million years ago
Ecological niche
small insectivore
Species/Sub Species
A. manazzonei
Diet
Achillesaurus, like many other alvarezsaurs, would have been adapted to an insectivorous lifestyle
Introduction
Achillesaurus is a genus of alvarezsaurid theropods that lived in Argentina during the Late Cretaceous. Achillesaurus is named after Achilles and his famous weak heel despite his exceptional powers, which is diagnostic in Achillesaurus's heel as well. Achillesaurus is currently identified as a relatively large and basal alvarezsaur while also being contemporary to Alvarezsaurus. The genus is based on a partial skeleton, sacral vertebrae, 4 caudal (tail) vertebrae, a portion of the left femur (thighbone), a tibia (shinbone), 1 foot, and an ilium. The describers of the genus, Agustín Martinelli and Ezequiel Vera, made a phylogenetic analysis on Achillesaurus and identified it as an alvarezsaurid as well as an uncertain relationship with the contemporary Alvarezsaurus and other more advanced alvarezsaurids. In 2012, others argued that Achillesaurus may be a junior synonym of Alvarezsaurus since they think it is evident due to the fact that they are both from the same formation and are not significantly different. Achillesaurus lived with other South American paleofauna including the snake necked turtle Lomalatachelys, the snake Dinilysia, a myriad of crocodilians which occupy different ecological niches, 4 genera of titanosaurs, the ceratosaurians Viavenator and Velocisaurus (not to be confused with Velociraptor), the apex predator and megaraptoran Tratayenia, its contemporary relative Alvarezsaurus, the oldest flightless bird Patagopteryx, and the basal ornithopod Mahuidacursor.