A new oviraptorosaurid (Theropoda: Oviraptorosauria) from the Late Cretaceous of southern China
2003; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 22; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1671/0272-4634(2002)022[0871
ISSN1937-2809
Autores Tópico(s)Evolution and Paleontology Studies
ResumoOviraptorosaurians are generally regarded as non-avian theropod dinosaurs (Gauthier, 1986; Barsbold et al., 1990, 2000a; Barsbold, 1997; Sereno, 1999). Some recent phylogenetic analyses show that oviraptorosaurs fall within Aves, and they are hypothesized to be secondarily flightless birds (Maryanska et al., 2002; Lii et al., 2002). Most oviraptorosaurs are known from Mongolia (Osborn, 1924; Barsbold, 1976, 1981, 1983; Norell et al., 2001a; Clark et al., 1999, 2001), although Chirostenotes (Sues, 1997) is known from North America. In China, in addition to the basal oviraptorosaur Caudipteryx (Ji et al., 1998; Zhou et al., 2000; Sereno, 1999; Holtz, 2000, 2001; Norell et al., 2001b; Xu et al., 2002), only one specimen of oviraptorid oviraptorosaur has been reported (Dong and Currie, 1996), and it is not well preserved. Here, a new oviraptorosaur from a single quarry in southern China is reported, providing the first solid evidence of a derived oviraptorid from outside the Gobi region. Based upon a partial skeleton (HYMV 1-1), the new material is placed within Oviraptorosauria based on its high, short, toothless skull with pneumatized caudal vertebrae, anteriorly concave pubic shaft, and posteriorly concave ischium (Barsbold et al., 1990, 2000b; Makovicky and Sues, 1998). New characters described here further support the avialan status of oviraptorosaurs.
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