New alvarezsaurid

[Jonathon Woolf <jwoolf@erinet.com>]

Yet another new dino-find in the news: This week's issue of NATURE
contains a description of a new alvarezsaurid from Mongolia.  The name
given is _Suvuuia deserti_.  According to the news report I have, it's a
high-quality specimen, including one major piece never before found for
any alvarezsaurid: a good skull.  The animal is described as being
over-all similar to _Mononykus_: large, flightless, long neck, long
tail, and the same stubby, single-clawed forelimbs that have made
_Mononykus_ such an enigma.  The skull adds one significant item to the
argument over whether alvarezsaurids were dinosaurs or birds: _Suvuuia_
has prokinetic jaws, a feature previously found only in birds.

There are no other details in the wire article I have.  I'll be watching
for the NATURE article itself.

-- JSW