A new alvarezsaurid dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous Qiupa Formation of Luanchuan, Henan Province, central China

作者：Junchang Lü, Li Xu, Huali Chang, Songhai Jia, Jiming Zhang, Diansong Gao, Yiyang Zhang, Chengjun Zhang, Fan Ding · 发表于：China Geology · 年份：2018 · DOI：10.31035/cg2018005 · 被引用次数：23 · 研究领域：Paleontology and Evolutionary Biology、Evolution and Paleontology Studies、Ichthyology and Marine Biology

An alvarezsaurid dinosaur skeleton was discovered from the Late Cretaceous Qiupa Formation of Luanchuan, Henan Province of centtral China. It represents a new alvarezsaurid dinosaur Qiupanykus zhangi gen. et sp. nov. A phylogenetic analysis recovers Qiupanykus nested within the unresolved clade, which includes Asian and north American taxa. The skeleton of the new specimen is preserved in association with eggshells. The eggshell morphologies show that these eggs belong to oviraptorid eggs, skeletal remains of which were discovered from the same area. The alvarezsaurid skeleton associated with eggshell fragments may indicate that these eggs were broken by the strong thumb-claws of the former and that alvarezsaurid dinosaurs may be egg-eaters.