Alnashetri

Alnashetri is an extinct genus of alvarezsauroid coelurosaurian theropod dinosaur known from the early Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian stage) of La Buitrera, Río Negro Province, Argentina. It contains one known species, Alnashetri cerropoliciensis. Its remains were discovered in Candeleros Formation.

==Discovery== Alnashetri is known only from the holotype MPCA-477, articulated hind limbs of a single individual. The holotype consists of a partial left femur, distal portions of left and right tibiae, right fibula, proximal tarsals of both ankles, a nearly complete right metatarsus, proximal and distal parts of the left metapodials and left pedal digit III. The specimen was collected at the "Hoyada de los esfenodontes" sublocality, part of the main fossiliferous locality of La Buitrera, about 30 km south of the village of El Chocόn in 2005. A more complete skeleton was discovered in 2014 and described in 2026. The specimens were recovered from massive red sandstones that form the upper part of the Candeleros Formation of the Rio Limay Subgroup (Cenomanian to Turonian stage), close to its border with the Huincul Formation. It comes from the lower levels of the outcrops in this region, which produces a rich fauna of small vertebrates, including specimens of the large rhynchocephalian Priosphenodon avelesi, the basal snake Najash rionegrina, the notosuchian Araripesuchus buitreraensis, the unenlagiine dromaeosaurid Buitreraptor gonzalezorum, and also mammals and pterosaurs. It probably dates to the middle Cenomanian stage of the Late Cretaceous period, about 97 million years ago.