Open Paleo

Eumaniraptora

Padian et al., 1999

Its genera lived 165.3–66.0 million years ago Middle Jurassic–Late Cretaceous

Eumaniraptora, the "true maniraptorans," is a node-based clade of bird-line theropod dinosaurs that unites the avialans, which include Archaeopteryx and the more than 11,000 living species of birds, with the deinonychosaurs, the grouping of dromaeosaurids and troodontids. It is the node-based counterpart of the stem-based Paraves (Padian and colleagues, 1999), and some analyses recover scansoriopterygids as paravians that fall outside Eumaniraptora (Godefroit and colleagues, 2013). Its members are marked by long, winged forelimbs carrying large asymmetric feathers and an increasingly flexible, folding wrist, adaptations that set the stage for flapping flight in this lineage. Many forms also bore an enlarged, sickle-shaped claw on the second toe that was held retracted off the ground while walking. From small-bodied ancestors, dromaeosaurids and troodontids repeatedly evolved into larger animals through the Cretaceous, while body size continued to shrink in many of the avialans that led to modern birds.

Diagnosis

  1. Forelimb elongate, approaching or exceeding hindlimb length in many members
  2. Large asymmetric pennaceous feathers on the forelimb forming an aerofoil
  3. Laterally oriented glenoid permitting a wide arc of forelimb elevation
  4. Distal carpal incorporated into a trochlea permitting extensive wrist folding

Clades within Eumaniraptora

Genera placed directly in Eumaniraptora

  • Xiaotingia Xu et al., 2011 Callovian–Kimmeridgian (165.3–149.2 Ma)Chinaincertae sedisunder dispute

References

  1. Padian, K.; Hutchinson, J. R.; Holtz, T. R. (1999). Phylogenetic definitions and nomenclature of the major taxonomic categories of the carnivorous Dinosauria (Theropoda). Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 19(1): 69-80. padian1999a
  2. Godefroit, P.; Cau, A.; Hu, D. Y.; Escuillié, F.; Wu, W.; Dyke, G. (2013). A Jurassic avialan dinosaur from China resolves the early phylogenetic history of birds. Nature 498(7454): 359-362. Springer Science and Business Media LLC. doi:10.1038/nature12168

    Regarded Epidendrosaurus and Epidexipteryx, both scansoriopterygids, and Eosinopteryx as basal non-eumaniraptoran paravians.

    godefroit2013b