Topic summary
Maniraptoriformes
Extracted from the Wikipedia article Coelurosauria.
Classification
The last, and most exclusive of these proposed subclades is Maniraptoriformes. Maniraptoriformes is a clade which may have been united by the presence of pennaceous feathers and wings. This clade contains ornithomimosaurs and maniraptorans. The group was named by Thomas Holtz, who defined it as "the most recent common ancestor of Ornithomimus and birds, and all descendants of that common ancestor." One of the possible synapomorphies of this clade is the presence of feathers homologous to those of birds, based on study of a specimen of Shuvuuia.