Xiyunykus
| Xiyunykus | |
|---|---|
| |
| Scaled reconstruction | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Clade: | Dinosauria |
| Clade: | Saurischia |
| Clade: | Theropoda |
| Superfamily: | †Alvarezsauroidea |
| Genus: | †Xiyunykus Xu et al., 2018 |
| Type species | |
| †Xiyunykus pengi Xu et al., 2018
| |
Xiyunykus (meaning "western claw"; "xiyu" is
alvarezsaur from the Early Cretaceous of the Tugulu Group of China. It includes one species, Xiyunykus pengi.[1]
Paleoecology
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]
Evolutionary significance
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]
References
- ^ PMID 30146153.
