Aniksosaurus

Aniksosaurus is a genus of small, bipedal avetheropod dinosaur known from the Cretaceous of Chubut Province in Patagonian Argentina. Its only species, Aniksosaurus darwini, was formally described in 2006 by Martínez and Novas from the Bajo Barreal Formation of the Golfo San Jorge Basin, and it lived during the Cenomanian to Turonian, roughly 96 to 91 million years ago. The name means spring lizard, because the first remains were found on 21 September 1995, the onset of spring in the Southern Hemisphere, and the species name honors Charles Darwin, who visited Patagonia during the voyage of the Beagle. The type specimen is an articulated right hindlimb with a femur about 247 millimetres long, and its proportionally long tibia points to running habits. Estimates put the animal at 2 to 3 metres long and 35 to 45 kilograms. Bone histology showed the known individuals were juveniles to sub-adults, and a bonebed of several individuals suggests gregarious behaviour. Its relationships are disputed: it has been placed among coelurosaurs, near the compsognathids, as a maniraptoromorph and as a megaraptoran.