''Qiupanykus'' (meaning "Qiupa claw" after the Qiupa Formation) is a genus of

alvarezsaurid Alvarezsauridae is a family of small, long-legged dinosaurs. Although originally thought to represent the earliest known flightless birds, they are now thought to be an early diverging branch of maniraptoran theropods. Alvarezsaurids were highly ...

coelurosaur theropod from the Late Cretaceous

Qiupa Formation The Qiupa Formation is a Late Cretaceous Maastrichtian geologic formation in Henan Province, central China. It is rich in dinosaur eggs and bones, such as those of carnivorous and herbivorous dinosaurs. The Qiupa Formation is considered to be Lat ...

of southern China. Fossil eggs believed to be those of an

oviraptorid Oviraptoridae is a group of bird-like, herbivorous and omnivorous maniraptoran dinosaurs. Oviraptorids are characterized by their toothless, parrot-like beaks and, in some cases, elaborate crests. They were generally small, measuring between one ...

found in association with the

holotype A holotype is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of several ...

specimen indicate that both ''Qiupanykus'' and other alvarezsaurids may have been specialist egg eaters that used their robust thumb claws to crack open eggshells.

Phylogeny

Lü Junchang Lü Junchang (; 1965 – 9 October 2018) was a Chinese palaeontologist and professor at the Institute of Geology, Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences. An expert on Mesozoic reptiles, he described and named dozens of dinosaur and pterosaur taxa ...

''et al.'' (2018) recovered ''Qiupanykus'' as a member of the Alvarezsauridae, falling closer to ''Parvicursor'' than to ''Patagonykus''. Although not formally assigned to the clade

Parvicursorinae Alvarezsauridae is a family of small, long-legged dinosaurs. Although originally thought to represent the earliest known flightless birds, they are now thought to be an early diverging branch of maniraptoran theropods. Alvarezsaurids were highly ...

in the description, this position would make it a member of Parvicursorinae ''sensu'' Xu ''et al.'' (2013).

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q56603904 Late Cretaceous dinosaurs of Asia Alvarezsaurids Fossil taxa described in 2018 Taxa named by Lü Junchang