A new alvarezsaurid dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous Qiupa Formation of Luanchuan, Henan Province, central China
Jun-chang Lü,
Li Xu,
Hua-li Chang,
Song-hai Jia,
Ji-ming Zhang,
Dian-song Gao,
Yi-yang Zhang,
Cheng-jun Zhang,
Fang Ding
Affiliations
Jun-chang Lü
Institute of Geology, Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, Beijing 100037, China; Corresponding author: E-mail address: [email protected] (Jun-chang Lü).
Li Xu
Henan Geological Museum, Zhengzhou 450016, China
Hua-li Chang
Henan Geological Museum, Zhengzhou 450016, China
Song-hai Jia
Henan Geological Museum, Zhengzhou 450016, China
Ji-ming Zhang
Henan Geological Museum, Zhengzhou 450016, China
Dian-song Gao
Henan Geological Museum, Zhengzhou 450016, China
Yi-yang Zhang
Henan Geological Museum, Zhengzhou 450016, China
Cheng-jun Zhang
College of Earth Sciences &Key Laboratory of Mineral Resources of Gansu Province, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China
ABSTRACT: An alvarezsaurid dinosaur skeleton was discovered from the Late Cretaceous Qiupa Formation of Luanchuan, Henan Province of central 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.
