A basal alvarezsauroid theropod from the early late Jurassic of Xinjiang, China

Science

Volumn 327, Issue 5965, 2010, Pages 571-574

  Choiniere, Jonah N ^a   Xu, Xing ^b   Clark, James M ^a   Forster, Catherine A ^a   Guo, Yu ^b   Han, Fenglu ^b  

^a GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY   (United States)

^b INSTITUTE OF VERTEBRATE PALEONTOLOGY AND PALEOANTHROPOLOGY   (China)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

BIOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS; CONVERGENT EVOLUTION; DINOSAUR; DIVERGENCE; FOSSIL RECORD; JURASSIC; MORPHOLOGY; NEW TAXON; PALEONTOLOGY;

ARTICLE; BIRD; CHINA; FOSSIL; JURASSIC; MOLECULAR PHYLOGENY; PLESIOMORPHY; PRIORITY JOURNAL;

ANIMALS; BIRDS; BONE AND BONES; BONES OF UPPER EXTREMITY; CHINA; DINOSAURS; EVOLUTION; FORELIMB; FOSSILS; PHYLOGENY; SKELETON; SKULL; SPINE; TOOTH;

CHINA; XINJIANG UYGUR;

ALVAREZSAURIDAE; ARCHAEOPTERYX; AVES; DINOSAURIA; MANIRAPTORA; THEROPODA;

EID: 75749143806     PISSN: 00368075     EISSN: 10959203     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1126/science.1182143     Document Type: Article

References (42)

1. We use the definition of Avialae from (2), the least inclusive clade containing Archaeopteryx lithographica and crown group birds, rather than the definition from (3), all taxa sharing a more recent common ancestor with Archaeopteryx than with Troodon formosus.
2. A. H. Turner, D. Pol, J. A. Clarke, G. M. Erickson, M. A. Norell, Science 317, 1378 (2007).
3. F. Zhang, Z. Zhou, X. Xu, X. Wang, C. Sullivan, Nature 455, 1105 (2008).
4. A. Feduccia, Auk 119, 1187 (2002).
5. F. Zhang, Z. Zhou, X. Xu, X. Wang, Naturwissenschaften 89, 394 (2002).
6. X. Xu, F. Zhang, Naturwissenschaften 92, 173 (2005).
7. D. Hu, L. Hou, L Zhang, X. Xu, Nature 461, 640 (2009).
8. Y. Liu, Y. Liu, S. Ji, Z. Yang, Chin. Sci. Bull. 51, 2634 (2006).
9. K. Xu et al., Jurassic System in the North of China (VII): The Stratigraphic Region of Northeast China (Petroleum Industry Press, Beijing, 2003).
10. Systematic paleontology; Theropoda Marsh, 1881; Coelurosauria von Huene, 1914; Alvarezsauroidea Bonaparte, 1991; Haplocheirus sollers, gen. et spec. nov. Etymology: Haplocheirus, Latinized from haplocheir (Greek): "simple hand," and referring to the lack of the specialized manus of derived alvarezsauroids; sollers, Latin for "skillful," referring to the presumed ability of this taxon to perform digital actions that would be impossible for derived alvarezsaurids. Holotype: IVPP V15988 is a nearly complete skeleton, missing only the distal caudal vertebrae and the dorsal aspects of the ilia (Figs. 1 and 2 and figs. S4 to 59). Locality and horizon: Junggar Basin, Xinjiang, China. Lower orange mudstone beds in the upper part of the Shishugou Formation (Oxfordian). Diagnosis; Large alvarezsauroid with the following autapomorphies: accessory mandibular fenestra anterodorsal to the mandibular fenestra, fenestrae divided by posterior process of the dentary; metacarpal III one-half the length of metacarpal II. Differs from all other alvarezsauroids in the following derived features: heterodont dentary tooth row with enlarged dentary tooth 4; alveolar margin of anterior end of dentary is dorsally convex; maxillary and dentary teeth with posterior serrations. Plesiomorphic in the Alvarezsauroidea for the following characters: postorbital contacts the jugal to form a postorbital bar; recurved maxillary and dentary teeth with serrations; distal carpals not fused to metacarpals; manual digit III longer than digit II; manual digits III and IV bear recurved unguals; pubis projects anteroventrally; ventral surface of sacrum without keel; posterior surface of last sacral centrum flat.
11. J. M. Clark et al., in 9th International Symposium on Mesozoic Terrestrial Ecosystems and Biota, P. M. Barrett, S. E. Evans, Eds. (Manchester, UK, 2006), pp. 26-28.
12. F. M. Gradstein, J. G. Ogg, A. G. Smith, Eds., A Geologic Time Scale 2004 (Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge, 2004).
13. J. F. Bonaparte, Revista del Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales Bernardino Rivadavia: Paleontologia 4, 17 (1991).
14. F. E. Novas, Mem. Queensl. Mus. 39, 675 (1996).
15. A. G. Martinelli, E. I. Vera, Zootaxa 1582, 1 (2007).
16. A. A. Karhu, A. S. Rautian, Paleontol. J. 30, 583 (1996).
17. L. M. Chiappe, M. Norell, J. M. Clark, Nature 392, 275 (1998).
18. Perle A., M. A. Norell, L. M. Chiappe, J. M. Clark, Nature 362, 623 (1993).
19. A. H. Turner, S. Nesbitt, M. A. Norell, Am. Mus. Novit. 3648, 1 (2009).
20. N. R. Longrich, P. J. Currie, Cretac. Res. 30, 239 (2009).
21. J. R. Hutchinson, L M. Chiappe, J. Vertebr. Paleontol. 18, 447 (1998).
22. D. Naish, G. J. Dyke, Neues Jahrb. Geol. Palaeontol. Montashefte 7, 385 (2004).
23. E. Kessler, D. Grigorescu, Z. Csiki, Acta Palaeontol. Romaniae 5, 349 (2005).
24. F. E. Novas, D. Pol, in Mesozoic Birds: Above the Heads of Dinosaurs, L. M. Chiappe, L. Witmer, Eds. (Univ. of California Press, Berkeley, 2002), pp. 121-128.
25. P. J. Makovicky, M. A. Norell, in The Dinosauria, D. B. Weishampel, P. Dodson, H. Osmolska, Eds. (Univ. of California Press, Berkeley, ed. 2, 2004), pp. 184-195.
26. B. P. Pérez-Moreno et al., Nature 370, 363 (1994).
27. J. M. Clark, T. Maryanska, R. Barsbold, in The Dinosauria, D. B. Weishampel, P. Dodson, H. Osmolska, Eds. (Univ. of California Press, Berkeley, ed. 2, 2004), pp. 151-164.
28. A. Perle, .L M. Chiappe, R. Barsbold, J. M. Clark, M. Norell, Am. Mus. Novit. 3105, 1 (1994).
29. L. M. Chiappe, M. A. Norell, J. M. Clark, in Mesozoic Birds: Above the Heads of Dinosaurs, L. M. Chiappe, L. M. Witmer, Eds. (Univ. of California Press, Berkeley, 2002), pp. 87-120.
30. F. E. Novas, J. Vertebr. Paleontol. 17, 137 (1997).
31. S. Suzuki et al., Contrib. Sci. 494, 1 (2002).
32. T. R. Holtz Jr., J. Vertebr. Paleontol. 14, 480 (1994).
33. P. Sereno, in New Perspectives on the Origin and Early Evolution of Birds, J. Gauthier, L. F. Gall, Eds. (Peabody Museum of Natural History, New Haven, CT, 2001), pp. 69-98.
34. J. M. Clark, M. A. Norell, P. J. Makovicky, in Mesozoic Birds: Above the Heads of Dinosaurs, L. M. Chiappe, L. M. Witmer, Eds. (Univ. of California Press, Berkeley, 2002), pp. 31-64.
35. M. A. Norell, Am. J. Sci. 293A, 407 (1993).
36. We measured congruence of stratigraphy with phylogeny using the modified Manhattan Stratigraphic Measure (MSM*) (37) with the phylogenetic software package TNT (38) and published scripts that allow for uncertainty in first appearance dates for fossil taxa (39).
37. D. Pol, M. Norell, Cladistics 17, 285 (2001).
38. TNT version 1.1; P. A. Goloboff, S. Farris, K. C. Nixon, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas Miguel Lillo, Tucuman, Argentina, 2003.
39. D. Pol, M. A. Norell, Syst. Biol. 55, 512 (2006).
40. J. H. J. Madsen, Utah Geol. Miner. Surv. Bull. 109, 1 (1976).
41. J. H. Ostrom, Peabody Mus. Nat. Hist. Bull. 30 (1969).
42. We thank W. Ding and T. Yu for finding the specimen, and the crew of the 2004 Sino-American field expedition for excavating the specimen; H.-j. Wang, X. Ding, and L. Xiang for preparing the fossil; A. Buscalioni, C. Mehling, and M. Norell for specimen access; and P. Barrett, H. Cameron, J. Conrad, M. Ellison, D. Hone, C. Sullivan, and A. Turner for discussions. Support for this research was provided by the National Science Foundation Division of Earth Sciences and Office of International Science and Engineering of the USA, the National Natural Sciences Foundation of China, and the Chinese Academy of Sciences; and the GWU Facilitating Fund, the Jurassic Foundation, the Hilmar Saltee bequest, and the George Washington University.