The first single-fingered dinosaur

A new species of parrot-sized dinosaur, the first discovered with only one finger, has been unearthed in Inner Mongolia, China. Scientists named the new dinosaur Linhenykus monodactylus, after the nearby city of Linhe. The new dinosaur belongs to the Alvarezsauroidea, a branch of the carnivorous dinosaur group Theropoda. Theropods gave rise to modern birds and include such famous dinosaurs as Tyrannosaurus and Velociraptor. An international team of palaeontologists found the fossil preserved in rocks of the Upper Cretaceous Wulansuhai Formation, which is located near the border between Mongolia and China. The formation dates to 84-75 million years ago and has yielded a rich trove of vertebrate fossils including the recently discovered theropod Linheraptor exquisitus. The authors uncovered a partial skeleton from the site, which included bones of the vertebral column, the forelimb, a partial pelvis and nearly complete hind limbs.