BEIJING, Jan. 30 (UPI) -- A two-legged dinosaur that lived and died in what is now western China 160 million years ago is the oldest known bird ancestor, scientists say.
The fossil, Haplocheirus sollers, was unearthed in the Uighur Autonomous Area by a team headed by Jonah Choiniere of George Washington University, Xinhua, the Chinese government news agency, reported Saturday. Researchers say the specimen, which stood between 190 and 230 centimeters (6 1/4 to 7 1/2 feet), was a young adult.
"It had unique features but it shared some features with birds. It moved its hands sideways, like how birds can fold their wings. Its head, vertebral column, hind limbs, hands were all bird-like," said Xu Xing at the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleonanthropology.
Xu said the species had "very bizarre forelimbs" with three claws on each, designed to catch small animals.
Haplocheirus was a member of the Alvarezsauridae, a group of bird-like dinosaurs. The fossil is believed to be 45 million to 60 million years older than the previous contender for oldest bird-like dinosaur.
