Kingdom Animalia Clade Dinosauria Family †Compsognathidae Phylum Chordata Order Saurischia | Class Reptilia Suborder Theropoda Species †B. jii Rank Genus | |
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Beipiaognathus (meaning Beipiao jaw) is a genus of coelurosaurian theropod from the Early Cretaceous Yixian Formation of Liaoning, China.
The genus was initially assigned to the Compsognathidae based on the presence of two traits: fan-shaped dorsal neural spines and a robust I-1 phalanx on the hand. However, it also differs from other compsognathids in several ways: the teeth are unserrated and conical; the ulna is proportionally longer; the II-1 phalanx on the hand is longer and more robust; and the tail is much shorter.
However, Andrea Cau has informally noted a number of points in the fossil that are indicative of it having been artificially assembled, thus rendering the specimen a phylogenetically uninformative chimaera.
References
Beipiaognathus Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA