Maniraptoran theropod ungual from the Marilia Formation

FERNANDO E. NOVAS; LUIZ CARLOS BORGES RIBEIRO; ISMAR DE SOUZA CARVALHO

Revista del Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales

Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales

Año: 2006 vol. 7 p. 31 - 36

A new theropod record from the Marília Formation (Late Cretaceous, Minas Gerais, Brazil) is here described. It consists of an isolated manual ungual which exhibits derived maniraptoran features (e.g., presence of proximodorsal lip). The ungual distinguishes by the presence a set of unique features (e.g., dorsoventrally low and proximodistally elongate profile in side view; block-like flexor tuberosity; proximal articular surface more dorsally oriented than in other theropods; cutting "keel" located distally on ventral surface) suggesting that the animal that produced it was a member of an unknown group of derived maniraptoran theropods, other than alvarezsaurids, deinonychosaurians and oviraptorosaurians already recorded in South America.