The affinities of a new theropod from the Alxa Desert, Inner Mongolia, People's Republic of China

Remains of bipedal saurischians from lacustrine strata of Albian age in the Alxa ("Alashan") Desert of Inner Mongolia represent a new taxon and the most complete remains of an Early Cretaceous theropod so far discovered in Asia. A skeletal reconstruction generally resembles that of a moderately large prosauropod with long arms and a short tail. However, in its detailed morphology the reptile appears to be close to the ancestry of the Therizinosauridae Maleev, 1954 (for which Segno-sauridae Perle, 1979 is probably a junior synonym). These theropods are best referred to the Tetanurae of Gauthier, 1986. However, a provisional analysis of the distribution of therizinosauroid characters within tetanurans suggests the existence of two subordinate groups: the Carnosauria (Allosaurus, dromaeosaurids, and tyrannosaurids) and the Oviraptorosauria (including therizinosauroids, ornithomimids, troodontids, and oviraptorids).