Haplocheirus

Haplocheirus
Temporal range: Late Jurassic[1]
~161.2 to 158.7 Ma - Oxfordian
Holotype skull
Holotype postcania
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Dinosauria
Clade: Saurischia
Clade: Theropoda
Superfamily: †Alvarezsauroidea (?)
Genus: †Haplocheirus
Choiniere et al., 2010
Type species
†Haplocheirus sollers
Choiniere et al., 2010

Haplocheirus (/ˌhæplʊuˈkəirəs/, meaning "simple hand") is an extinct genus of theropod dinosaur from the Middle Jurassic Shishugou Formation of Xinjiang in China. It is generally considered to be an alvarezsauroid,[2][3][4][5][6] although some researchers have questioned this assignment.[7][8] The genus contains a single species, H. sollers, which is known from a mostly complete skeleton including the skull.[2]

The quality of the preservation in the only known specimen of Haplocheirus is near-perfect and preserves the animal in three dimensions. This makes Haplocheirus one of the most well-known Jurassic coelurosaurs from anywhere in the world.[2] The specimen has been relatively well-studied in comparison with other comparable taxa like Zuolong or Guanlong, which has allowed researchers to gain insights into the evolution of maniraptorans[8] as well as the sensory capabilities,[9] diet,[10] and ontogeny[11] of primitive coelurosaurs.

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference dating was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ a b c Choiniere, J. N.; Xu, X.; Clark, J. M.; Forster, C. A.; Guo, Y.; Han, F. (2010). "A basal alvarezsauroid theropod from the Early Late Jurassic of Xinjiang, China". Science. 327 (5965): 571–574. Bibcode:2010Sci...327..571C. doi:10.1126/science.1182143. PMID 20110503. S2CID 36904501.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference Brusatte was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference aorun was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Kubo, Kohta; Kobayashi, Yoshitsugu; Chinzorig, Tsogtbaatar; Tsogtbaatar, Khishigjav (2023). "A new alvarezsaurid dinosaur (Theropoda, Alvarezsauria) from the Upper Cretaceous Baruungoyot Formation of Mongolia provides insights for bird-like sleeping behavior in non-avian dinosaurs". PLOS ONE. 18 (11): e0293801. Bibcode:2023PLoSO..1893801K. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0293801. PMC 10651048. PMID 37967055.
  6. ^ Xu, Xing; Choiniere, Jonah; Tan, Qingwei; Benson, Roger B.J; Clark, James; Sullivan, Corwin; Zhao, Qi; Han, Fenglu; Ma, Qingyu; He, Yiming; Wang, Shuo; Xing, Hai; Tan, Lin (2018). "Two Early Cretaceous Fossils Document Transitional Stages in Alvarezsaurian Dinosaur Evolution". Current Biology. 28: 2853–2860.e3. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2018.07.057. PMID 30146153.
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference compy was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference skull2 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference eyes was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ Cite error: The named reference skull1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  11. ^ Cite error: The named reference mini was invoked but never defined (see the help page).