theropod from the earliest Late Jurassic of western China represents the earliest diverging
member of the enigmatic theropod group Alvarezsauroidea and confirms that this group is a
basal member of Maniraptora, the clade containing birds and their closest theropod
relatives. It extends the fossil record of Alvarezsauroidea by 63 million years and provides
evidence for maniraptorans earlier in the fossil record than Archaeopteryx. The new taxon …