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Maniraptora
Maniraptora is a clade of coelurosaurian dinosaurs which includes the birds and the non-avian dinosaurs that were more closely related to them than to ''Ornithomimus velox''. It contains the major subgroups Avialae, Deinonychosauria, Oviraptorosauria and Therizinosauria. ''Ornitholestes'' and the Alvarezsauroidea are also often included. Together with the next closest sister group, the Ornithomimosauria, Maniraptora comprises the more inclusive clade Maniraptoriformes. Maniraptorans first appear in the fossil record during the Jurassic Period (see ''Eshanosaurus''), and survive today as living birds. Description Maniraptorans are characterized by long arms and three-fingered hands (though reduced or fused in some lineages), as well as a "half-moon shaped" (semi-lunate) bone in the wrist (carpus). In 2004, Tom Holtz and Halszka Osmólska pointed out six other maniraptoran characters relating to specific details of the skeleton. Unlike most other saurischian dinosaurs, which h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Therizinosauria
Therizinosaurs (once called segnosaurs) were large herbivorous theropod dinosaurs whose fossils have been found across the Early to Late Cretaceous deposits in Asia and North America. Various features of the forelimbs, skull and pelvis unite these finds as both theropods and maniraptorans, close relatives to birds. The name of the representative genus, ''Therizinosaurus'', is derived from the Greek (, 'to reap' or 'scythe')Translated paper and (, 'lizard'). The older representative, ''Segnosaurus'', is derived from the ('slow') and the Greek . History of research [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dinosaur
Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the evolution of dinosaurs is the subject of active research. They became the dominant terrestrial vertebrates after the Triassic–Jurassic extinction event 201.3 mya; their dominance continued throughout the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods. The fossil record shows that birds are feathered dinosaurs, having evolved from earlier theropods during the Late Jurassic epoch, and are the only dinosaur lineage known to have survived the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event approximately 66 mya. Dinosaurs can therefore be divided into avian dinosaurs—birds—and the extinct non-avian dinosaurs, which are all dinosaurs other than birds. Dinosaurs are varied from taxonomic, morphological and ecological standpoints. Birds, at over 10,700 living species, ar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alvarezsauroidea
Alvarezsauroidea is a group of small maniraptoran dinosaurs. Alvarezsauroidea, Alvarezsauridae, and Alvarezsauria are named for the historian Gregorio Álvarez, not the more familiar physicist Luis Alvarez, or his son geologist Walter Alvarez who jointly proposed that the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event was caused by an impact event. The group was first formally proposed by Choiniere and colleagues in 2010, to contain the family Alvarezsauridae and non-alvarezsaurid alvarezsauroids, such as ''Haplocheirus'',Choiniere, J.N., Xu, X., Clark, J.M., Forster, C.A., Guo, Y. and Han, F. (2010). "A basal alvarezsauroid theropod from the early Late Jurassic of Xinjiang, China." ''Science'', 327: 571-574. which is the basalmost of the Alvarezsauroidea (from the Late Jurassic, Asia). The discovery of ''Haplocheirus'' extended the stratigraphic evidence for the group Alvarezsauroidea about 63 million years further in the past. The division of Alvarezsauroidea into the Alvarezsa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maniraptoriformes
Maniraptoriformes is a clade of dinosaurs with pennaceous feathers and wings that contains ornithomimosaurs and maniraptorans. This group was named by Thomas Holtz, who defined it as "the most recent common ancestor of ''Ornithomimus'' and birds, and all descendants of that common ancestor." Fossil evidence Many fossils have been discovered in recent years, particularly in China. Many of the feathered dinosaurs belong to this clade. In particular, a fossil of the Alvarezsauridae ''Shuvuuia'' has a version of keratin consistent with that of avian feathers. Many nearly complete fossil maniraptoriforms are known from the late Jurassic. ''Archaeopteryx'' is known from Bavaria at 155–150 Ma. ''Ornitholestes'', the troodontid ''Hesperornithoides'', '' Coelurus fragilis'' and '' Tanycolagreus topwilsoni'' are all known from the Morrison Formation in Wyoming at about 150 Ma. The Daohugou biota, including ''Anchiornis'' and ''Epidexipteryx'', is the earliest record of manir ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ornitholestes
''Ornitholestes'' (meaning "bird robber") is a small theropod dinosaur of the late Jurassic (Brushy Basin Member of the Morrison Formation, middle Kimmeridgian age, about 154 million years agoTurner, C.E. and Peterson, F., (1999). "Biostratigraphy of dinosaurs in the Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation of the Western Interior, U.S.A." Pp. 77–114 in Gillette, D.D. (ed.), ''Vertebrate Paleontology in Utah''. Utah Geological Survey Miscellaneous Publication 99-1.) of Western Laurasia (the area that was to become North America). To date, ''Ornitholestes'' is known only from a single partial skeleton with a badly crushed skull found at the Bone Cabin Quarry near Medicine Bow, Wyoming, in 1900. It was described by Henry Fairfield Osborn in 1903. An incomplete hand was later attributed to ''Ornitholestes'', although it now appears to belong to ''Tanycolagreus''. The type (and only known) species is ''O. hermanni''. The specific name honors the American Museum of Natural History prep ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bird
Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweight skeleton. Birds live worldwide and range in size from the bee hummingbird to the ostrich. There are about ten thousand living species, more than half of which are passerine, or "perching" birds. Birds have whose development varies according to species; the only known groups without wings are the extinct moa and elephant birds. Wings, which are modified forelimbs, gave birds the ability to fly, although further evolution has led to the loss of flight in some birds, including ratites, penguins, and diverse endemic island species. The digestive and respiratory systems of birds are also uniquely adapted for flight. Some bird species of aquatic environments, particularly seabirds and some waterbirds, have further evolved for swim ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Coelurosauria
Coelurosauria (; from Greek, meaning "hollow tailed lizards") is the clade containing all theropod dinosaurs more closely related to birds than to carnosaurs. Coelurosauria is a subgroup of theropod dinosaurs that includes compsognathids, tyrannosaurs, ornithomimosaurs, and maniraptorans; Maniraptora includes birds, the only known dinosaur group alive today. Most feathered dinosaurs discovered so far have been coelurosaurs. Philip J. Currie had considered it likely and probable that all coelurosaurs were feathered. However, several skin impressions found for some members of this group show pebbly, scaly skin, indicating that feathers did not completely replace scales in all taxa. In the past, Coelurosauria was used to refer to all small theropods, but this classification has since been abolished. Anatomy Bodyplan The studying of anatomical traits in coelurosaurs indicates that the last common ancestor had evolved the ability to eat and digest plant matter, adapting to an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Patagonykus
''Patagonykus'' (meaning "Patagonian claw") is a genus of theropod dinosaur from the Upper Cretaceous of Argentina. This alvarezsauroid was discovered in exposures of the Portezuelo Formation (Turonian-Coniacian) of the Rio Neuquén Subgroup in the Neuquén Basin, Neuquen Province of Patagonia, Argentina. The holotype consists of an incomplete but well-preserved skeleton, lacking a skull, but including many vertebrae, the coracoids, a partial forelimb, pelvic girdle, and hindlimbs. ''Patagonykus'' has been classed with the Alvarezsauridae, a family which includes such taxa as the Mongolian '' Mononykus'' and the Argentinian ''Alvarezsaurus''. In 2010 Gregory S. Paul estimated its length at 1 meter (3.3 ft) and its weight at 3.5 kg (7.7 lbs). Classification Agnolin ''et al.'' (2012) originally placed ''Patagonykus'' within Alvarezsauridae, within the clade Patagonykinae as sister taxon to '' Bonapartenykus''. Makovicky, Apesteguía and Gianechini (2012) found it to be in a poly ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alaskan Troodontid
''Troodon'' ( ; ''Troödon'' in older sources) is a wastebasket taxon and a dubious genus of relatively small, bird-like dinosaurs known definitively from the Campanian age of the Late Cretaceous period (about 77 mya). It includes at least one species, ''Troodon formosus'', known from Montana. Discovered in October 1855, ''T. formosus'' was among the first dinosaurs found in North America, although it was thought to be a lizard until 1877. Several well-known troodontid specimens from the Dinosaur Park Formation in Alberta were once believed to be members of this genus. However, recent analyses in 2017 have found the genus to be undiagnostic and referred some of these specimens to the genus '' Stenonychosaurus'' (long believed to be synonymous with ''Troodon'') and others to the genus '' Latenivenatrix''. The genus name is Ancient Greek for "wounding tooth", referring to the teeth, which were different from those of most other theropods known at the time of their discovery. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Erliansaurus
''Erliansaurus'' (meaning "Erlian lizard") is a genus of therizinosaur theropod dinosaur that lived in Asia during the Cenomanian stage of the Late Cretaceous period in what is now Nei Mongol, Iren Dabasu Formation. Discovery and naming The remains of ''Erliansaurus'' were found near Sanhangobi in Inner Mongolia in 1999. The type species, ''Erliansaurus bellamanus'', was described by Xu Xing, Zhang Xiaohong, Paul Sereno, Zhao Xijin, Kuang Xuewen, Han Jun and Tan Lin in 2002. The generic name refers to the town of Erlian and the specific name is derived from Latin ''bellus'', "beautiful", and ''manus'', "hand", in reference to the exquisite preservation of the forelimb. The holotype, LH V0002, was uncovered in the Iren Dabasu Formation dating from the Cenomanian stage. It consists of a partial skeleton belonging to a subadult individual. It includes two cervical, one dorsal and two caudal vertebrae; a right scapula; a left forelimb only lacking the carpus; a partial right ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elopteryx
''Elopteryx'' is a genus of, perhaps troodontid, maniraptoran theropod dinosaur based on fragmentary fossils found in late Cretaceous Period rocks of Romania. The single species, ''Elopteryx nopcsai'', is known only from very incomplete material, and therefore is considered a ''nomen dubium'' ("dubious name") by most paleontologists. History of discovery and naming Initial finds In the late nineteenth or early twentieth century, the famous Hungarian paleontologist Franz Nopcsa von Felső-Szilvás found near Sînpetru, in what is now the Romanian region of Transylvania, some bone fragments of a small theropod. These were acquired by the British Museum of Natural History. In 1913, curator Charles William Andrews named these as the type species ''Elopteryx nopcsai''. The genus name ''Elopteryx'' is from Ancient Greek ''helos'' (ἕλος), "marsh" + ''pteryx'' (πτέρυξ), "wing". The specific name honors Nopcsa. Initially, ''Elopteryx'' was described from its holotype, a pr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fukuivenator
''Fukuivenator'' ("hunter of Fukui Prefecture") is an extinct genus of therizinosaurian theropod dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous of Japan. Discovery and naming The type species ''Fukuivenator paradoxus'' was in 2016 named and described by Yoichi Azuma, Xu Xing, Masateru Shibata, Soichiro Kawabe, Kazunori Miyata and Takuya Imai. The generic name combines a reference to the Fukui prefecture with Latin ''venator'', "hunter". The specific name refers to the paradoxical combination of traits shown by the species. The rocks in which the skeleton of ''Fukuivenator'', holotype FPDM-V8461, was found in August 2007 belong to the Kitadani Formation, which is probably of Barremian or Aptian age. Radiometric dating of nearby rock units has given this formation an estimated age of somewhere between 127 and 115 million years old. The holotype consists of a partial skeleton with skull. The skeleton of ''F. paradoxus'' is currently the most complete non-avian dinosaur fossil found in J ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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