Xiyunykus (que significa "garra occidental"; "xiyu" significa "oeste" en mandarín y se refiere a China occidental, donde se encontró [1] ) es un alvarezsaurio del Cretácico Inferior del Grupo Tugulu de China . Incluye una especie, Xiyunykus pengi . [1]
Xiyunykus | |
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clasificación cientifica ![]() | |
Reino: | Animalia |
Filo: | Chordata |
Clade : | Dinosauria |
Clade : | Saurischia |
Clade : | Theropoda |
Clade : | † Álvarezsauria |
Género: | † Xiyunykus Xu y col. , 2018 |
Especie tipo | |
† Xiyunykus pengi Xu y col. , 2018 |
Paleoecología
Dinosaurs contemporaneous with Xiyunykus in the Tugulu Group of Xinjiang include the stegosaur Wuerhosaurus, the coeval alvarezsaur Tugulusaurus, the carcharodontosaurid Kelmayisaurus, the dubious maniraptoran Phaedrolosaurus, the problematic coelurosaur Xinjiangovenator, and the ceratopsian Psittacosaurus xinjiangensis.[citation needed]
Importancia evolutiva
Xiyunykus, along with Bannykus, fills a 70-million year gap in alvarezsaur evolution by exhibiting cranial and postcranial morphologies intermediate between the typical theropod forelimb of Haplocheirus and the highly reduced forelimbs and minute teeth of Late Cretaceous alvarezsaurids.[citation needed]
Referencias
- ^ a b Xu, Xing; Choiniere, Jonah; Tan, Qingwei; Benson, Roger B.J; Clark, James; Sullivan, Corwin; Zhao, Qi; Han, Fenglu; Ma, Qingyu; He, Yiming; Wang, Shuo; Xing, Hai; Tan, Lin (2018). "Two Early Cretaceous Fossils Document Transitional Stages in Alvarezsaurian Dinosaur Evolution". Current Biology. 28: 2853–2860.e3. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2018.07.057. PMID 30146153.