A new alvarezsaurid dinosaur (Theropoda, Alvarezsauria) from the Upper Cretaceous Baruungoyot Formation of Mongolia provides insights for bird-like sleeping behavior in nonavian dinosaurs

Abstract

Alvarezsauria is a group of early-branching maniraptoran theropods that are distributed globally from the Late Jurassic to the latest Cretaceous. Despite recent increases in the fossil record of this group, the scarcity of complete specimens still restricts interpreting their detailed anatomy, ecology, and evolution. Here, we report a new taxon of derived alvarezsaur, Jaculinykus yaruui gen. et sp. nov., from the Late Cretaceous of Mongolia, which represents a nearly complete and articulated skeleton. Our phylogenetic analysis reveals that Jaculinykus belongs to the sub-clade of Alvarezsauridae, Parvicursorinae, and forms a mononphyletic group with Mononykus and Shuvuuia. Its well-preserved manus has only two fingers, composed of a hypertrophied digit I and greatly reduced digit II, which implies an intermediate condition between the tridactyl manus of Shuvuuia and monodactyl manus of Linhenykus. This highlights a previously unrecognized variation in specialization of alvarezsaurid manus. Notably, the preserved posture of the specimen exhibits a stereotypical avian-like sleeping position seen in the troodontids Mei and Sinornithoides. Evidence of this behavior in the alvarezsaur Jaculinykus suggests that stereotypically avian sleeping postures are a maniraptoran synapomorphy, providing more evidence of bird-like traits being distributed broadly among avian ancestors.