Palaeos		Coelurosauria
Vertebrates		Maniraptora

Coelurosauria: Maniraptora

Troodonts, Oviraptors, Therizinosaurs & Dromaeosaurs

DINOSAURIA
|--ORNITHISCHIA
`--+--SAUROPODOMORPHA
   `--THEROPODA
      |
      `--COELUROSAURIA
         |--Tyrannosauroidea
         `--+--Ornithomimosauria
            `--+--Maniraptora
               |--Therizinosauroidea
               `--Metornithes
                  |--Alvarezsauridae
                  `--+--Oviraptorosauria
                     `--Paraves	
                        |--Deinonychosauria
                        |   |--Troodontidae
                        |   `--Dromaeosauridae
                        `--AVES

Taxa on This Page

1. Maniraptora

Descriptions

Maniraptora: Maniraptoriforms closer to Daffy Duck than to Ornithomimus. Padian et al. (1999).

Range: Early Cretaceous-Late Cretaceous of China & North America. Birds > bird mimics, i.e. Neornithes > Ornithomimus. Holtz (1996a).

Phylogeny: Maniraptoriformes: Ornithomimosauria + (Ornitholestes + * : Therizinosauria + Metornithes)

Characters: $ prefrontal reduced or absent; distal 3/4 of tail stiffened; $ enlarged sternum; $ furcula present (? plesiomorphy?); $ lateral shoulder joint; $ arm 75%+ of presacral vertebral length; $ bowed ulna; enlarged semi-lunate carpal; $ enlarged manus digit 3; laterally flattened hand claws(?); some groups with retroverted pubes; no anterior expansion of pubic boot; $ ischium <2/3 length of pubis; distal obturator process on ischium; anterior trochanter near or confluent with proximal end of femur; hyperextendable second digit of the foot, with enlarged ungual; feathers with vanes (?!). 

Links: DD: Maniraptora; Maniraptoran Dinosaurs!; Avimimus; Selected Synapomorphies; theropods; maniraptora; Case for Maniraptorid Tyrannosaurs; A New Dinosaur Specimen With Feather-like Structures; Evolution, dinosaurs, BAND, BAMM, BCF, 2F, Cladistics, Birds, Secondary, Flightlessness, Archaeopteryx; The Theropod Ancestry of Birds; taxonomy; Coelurosauria - Paleontology and Geology Glossary. 

Image: "Avimimids and Troodontids" © 2000 by Dan Bensen and reproduced by permission. Key: from top left to bottom center:  Avimimus portentosus, (Kakuru kunjani), Sinornithoides youngi, Byronosaurus jaffei, (Borogovia gracilicrus), Troodon formosus, (Tochisaurus nemegtensis), Saurornithoides mongoliensis, (Saurornithoides asiamericus), (Saurornithoides isfarensis), (Saurornithoides junior).  Parentheses indicate reconstructions based upon scanty evidence.

Notes: The membership of this group, as well as its characteristics, is fairly unclear.