A basal troodontid from the Early Cretaceous of China

Troodontid dinosaurs form one of the most avian-like dinosaur groups. Their phylogenetic position is hotly debated, and they have been allied with almost all principal coelurosaurian lineages. Here we report a basal troodontid dinosaur, Sinovenator changii gen. et sp. nov., from the lower Yixian For...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature (London) 2002-02, Vol.415 (6873), p.780-784
Main Authors: Xu, Xing, Norell, Mark A, Wang, Xiao-lin, Makovicky, Peter J, Wu, Xiao-chun
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Biological Evolution
Birds - classification
Bone and Bones - anatomy & histology
China
Cretaceous
Dinosaurs
Dinosaurs - anatomy & histology
Dinosaurs - classification
Earth sciences
Earth, ocean, space
Evolution
Exact sciences and technology
Fossils
Humanities and Social Sciences
letter
Models, Biological
multidisciplinary
Paleontology
Phylogeny
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
Skull - anatomy & histology
Vertebrate paleontology
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Summary:Troodontid dinosaurs form one of the most avian-like dinosaur groups. Their phylogenetic position is hotly debated, and they have been allied with almost all principal coelurosaurian lineages. Here we report a basal troodontid dinosaur, Sinovenator changii gen. et sp. nov., from the lower Yixian Formation of China. This taxon has several features that are not found in more derived troodontids, but that occur in dromaeosaurids and avialans. The discovery of Sinovenator and the examination of character distributions along the maniraptoran lineage indicate that principal structural modifications toward avians were acquired in the early stages of maniraptoran evolution.
ISSN:0028-0836
1476-4687
DOI:10.1038/415780a