In 2022, the type species Ondogurvel alifanovi was named and described by Alexander O. Averianov and Alexey V. Lopatin. The generic name, "Ondogurvel" combines the Mongolian words өндөг “ondo” (IPA:[ɒndɒ]), meaning egg, and гүрвэл “gurvel” (IPA:[ɡurw̜iɮ]), meaning lizard. The specific name, "alifanovi" (IPA:[ɑːlɪfɑːnɔːvaɪ]) honors the late Russian paleontologist Vladimir Alifanov who found the holotype specimen (PIN 5838/1) in 1999.[1]
Description
Ondogurvel was a bipedal
theropod. Like other
parvicursorines, it had a robust humerus, and long hindlimbs suggesting a
cusorial lifestyle. It is unique in that, unlike all other alvarezsaurids, it has metartarsals II and IV completely fused along their contact area.[1]
The following differences from the Parvicursor, another parvicursorine from the Barun Goyot Formation, were identified by Averianov & Lopatin (2022):[1]
the tibia less curved labially in transverse plane;
relatively shorter pedal phalanx II-1.
On the other hand, describers noted that the femora of Ondogurvel and Parvicursor are almost identical.[1] Mickey Mortimer has suggested that Ondogurvel may be a
junior synonym of Parvicursor, which is known only from a juvenile individual.[2]
Classification
Averianov and Lopatin (2022) place Ondogurvel in the
alvarezsauridsubfamilyParvicursorinae which are classified by their manus morphology. They recovered that Ondogurvel formed a clade with Xixianykus and Albinykus which have proximally co-ossified metatarsals II and IV. The describing paper also proposes that the "drastic difference in the morphology of the carpometacarpus [across Parvicursorinae] may suggest a deep divergence between the parvicursorine lineages represented by [Dzharaonyx] – Linhenykus and Mononykus – Ondogurvel".
^Karhu, A. A.; Rautian, A. S. (1996). A new family of Maniraptora (Dinosauria: Saurischia) from the Late Cretaceous of Mongolia. Paleontological Journal. 30, 583−592.