Maniraptora

Mounted skeleton of Falcarius utahensis with first author James Kirkland, via the New York Times.

Belongs within: Coelurosauria.
Contains: Oviraptorosauria, Dromaeosauridae, Troodontidae, Avialae.

The clade Maniraptora contains all theropods more closely related to the birds than to ornithomimosaurs. The name refers to the large, grasping hands used in capturing prey by some members of the clade, such as the dromaeosaurs, though members of the clade were morphologically and ecologically diverse. These include the Alvarezsauroidea, a group of small, cursorial forms in which the forelimbs had the first digit enlarged relative to the others, the latter often being reduced and non-functional. The Therizinosauria, in contrast, were mostly large, heavy-bodied forms with small leaf-shaped teeth and edentulous beaks that were probably herbivorous (Kirkland et al. 2005). The Scansoriopterygidae were small arboreal theropods capable of gliding flight.

See also: A new stem-bird and publication in the digital age.

<==Maniraptora [Metornithes]
    |--Alvarezsauroidea CX10
    |    |--Haplocheirus Choiniere, Xu et al. 2010 GC13, CX10
    |    |    `--*H. sollers Choiniere, Xu et al. 2010 CX10
    |    `--Alvarezsauridae [Alvarezsauria] CX10
    |         |--Alvarezsaurus Bonaparte 1991 GC13, P04
    |         |    `--A. calvoi Bonaparte 1991 P04
    |         |--Achillesaurus manazzonei XS11
    |         `--+--+--Bonapartenykus GC13
    |            |  `--Patagonykus Novas 1996 GC13, P04
    |            |       `--P. puertai Novas 1996 P04
    |            `--Parvicursorinae XS11
    |                 |  i. s.: Ceratonykus osculans CX10
    |                 |--Linhenykus Xu, Sullivan et al. XS11
    |                 |    `--*L. monodactylus Xu, Sullivan et al. XS11
    |                 `--+--Albertonykus boreale XS11
    |                    `--+--Xixianykus zhangi XS11
    |                       `--+--Parvicursor Karhu & Rautian 1996 XS11, P04
    |                          |    `--P. remotus Karhu & Rautian 1996 P04
    |                          `--+--Mononykus Perle, Norell et al. 1993 XS11, P04
    |                             |    `--M. olecranus Perle, Norell et al. 1993 P04
    |                             `--Shuuvuia Chiappe, Norell & Clark 1998 XS11, P04
    |                                  `--S. deserti Chiappe, Norell & Clark 1998 P04
    `--+--+--Oviraptorosauria GC13
       |  `--Paraves [Eumaniraptora] GC13
       |       |--Scansoriopterygidae GC13
       |       |    |--Epidexipteryx Zhang, Zhou et al. 2008 GC13, ZZ08
       |       |    |    `--*E. hui Zhang, Zhou et al. 2008 ZZ08
       |       |    `--Epidendrosaurus Zhang, Zhao et al. 2002 GC13, P04 [incl. Scansoriopteryx Czerkas & Yuan 2000 P04]
       |       |         `--E. ningchengensis Zhang, Zhou et al. 2002 GC13 (see below for synonymy)
       |       `--+--Eosinopteryx brevipinna GC13
       |          `--Eumaniraptora [Deinonychosauria] GC13
       |               |  i. s.: Nuthetes Owen 1854 D07
       |               |           `--N. destructor Owen 1854 (n. d.) HMC04
       |               |         Cryptovolans Cxerkas, Zhang et al. 2002 D07
       |               |           `--C. pauli D07
       |               |         Yixianosaurus Xu & Wang 2003 D07
       |               |           `--Y. longimanus D07
       |               |--Dromaeosauridae GC13
       |               `--+--Troodontidae GC13
       |                  `--Avialae GC13
       `--Therizinosauria [Segnosauria, Segnosaurischia, Therizinosauroidea] ZZ08
            |  i. s.: ‘Chilantaisaurus’ zheziangensis Dong 1979 CMB04
            |         Enigmosaurus Barsbold & Perle 1983 CMB04
            |           `--E. mongoliensis Barsbold & Perle 1983 CMB04
            |         Jianchangosaurus NS15
            |--Falcarius Kirkland, Zanno et al. 2005 GC13, KZ05
            |    `--*F. utahensis Kirkland, Zanno et al. 2005 KZ05
            `--+--Beipiaosaurus Xu, Tang & Wang 1999 GC13, CMB04
               |    `--B. inexpectus Xu, Tang & Wang 1999 CMB04
               `--+--Alxasaurus Russell & Dong 1993 GC13, CMB04
                  |    `--A. elesitaiensis Russell & Dong 1993 CMB04
                  `--Therizinosauridae CMB04
                       |  i. s.: Eshanosaurus Xu, Zhao & Clark 2001 CMB04
                       |           `--E. deguchiianus Xu, Zhao & Clark 2001 CMB04
                       |--Erlianosaurus Xu, Zhang et al. 2002 ZZ08, CMB04
                       |    `--E. bellamanus Xu, Zhang et al. 2002 CMB04
                       |--Nothronychus Kirkland & Wolfe 2001 GC13, CMB04
                       |    |--N. graffami GC13
                       |    `--N. mckinleyi Kirkland & Wolfe 2001 CMB04
                       |--Nanshiungosaurus Dong 1979 ZZ08, CMB04
                       |    |--N. bohlini Dong & Yu 1997 CMB04
                       |    `--N. brevispinus Dong 1979 CMB04
                       `--+--Neimongosaurus Zhang, Xu et al. 2001 ZZ08, CMB04
                          |    `--N. yangi Zhang, Xu et al. 2001 CMB04
                          `--+--Segnosaurus Perle 1979 ZZ08, CMB04
                             |    `--S. galbinensis Perle 1979 CMB04
                             `--+--Therizinosaurus Maleev 1954 ZZ08, CMB04
                                |    `--T. cheloniformis Maleev 1954 CMB04
                                `--Erlikosaurus Perle 1981 GC13, CMB04
                                     `--E. andrewsi Perle 1981 CMB04

Epidendrosaurus ningchengensis Zhang, Zhou et al. 2002 GC13 [incl. Scansoriopteryx heilmanni Czerkas & Yuan 2000 P04

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[CX10] Choiniere, J. N., X. Xu, J. M. Clark, C. A. Forster, Y. Guo & F. Han. 2010. A basal alvarezsauroid theropod from the early Late Jurassic of Xinjiang, China. Science 327: 571–574.

[CMB04] Clark, J. M., T. Maryańska & R. Barsbold. 2004. Therizinosauroidea. In: Weishampel, D. B., P. Dodson & H. Osmólska (eds) The Dinosauria 2^nd ed. pp. 151–164. University of California Press: Berkeley.

[D07] Dixon, D. 2007. The Complete Illustrated Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs & Prehistoric Creatures. Hermes House: London.

[GC13] Godefroit, P., A. Cau, Hu D.-Y., F. Escuillié, Wu W. & G. Dyke. 2013. A Jurassic avialan dinosaur from China resolves the early phylogenetic history of birds. Nature 498: 359–362.

[HMC04] Holtz, T. R., Jr, R. E. Molnar & P. J. Currie. 2004. Basal Tetanurae. In: Weishampel, D. B., P. Dodson & H. Osmólska (eds) The Dinosauria 2^nd ed. pp. 71–110. University of California Press: Berkeley.

[KZ05] Kirkland, J. I., L. E. Zanno, S. D. Sampson, J. M. Clark & D. D. DeBlieux. 2005. A primitive therizinosauroid dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous of Utah. Nature 435: 84–87.

[NS15] Novas, F. E., L. Salgado, M. Suárez, F. L. Agnolin, M. D. Ezcurra, N. R. Chimento, R. de la Cruz, M. P. Isasi, A. O. Vargas & D. Rubilar-Rogers. 2015. An enigmatic plant-eating theropod from the Late Jurassic period of Chile. Nature 522: 331–334.

[P04] Padian, K. 2004. Basal Avialae. In: Weishampel, D. B., P. Dodson & H. Osmólska (eds) The Dinosauria 2^nd ed. pp. 210–231. University of California Press: Berkeley.

[XS11] Xu, X., C. Sullivan, M. Pittman, J. N. Choiniere, D. Hone, P. Upchurch, Q. Tan, D. Xiao, L. Tan & F. Han. 2011. A monodactyl nonavian dinosaur and the complex evolution of the alvarezsauroid hand. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 108 (6): 2338–2342.

[ZZ08] Zhang, F., Z. Zhou, X. Xu, X. Wang & C. Sullivan. 2008. A bizarre Jurassic maniraptoran from China with elongate ribbon-like feathers. Nature 455: 1105–1108.

Last updated: 11 July 2018.