RE: Shuvuuia deserti has 3 fingers and long tail

["Thomas R. Holtz, Jr." <tholtz@geol.umd.edu>]

> From: owner-dinosaur@usc.edu [mailto:owner-dinosaur@usc.edu]On
> Behalf Of R. Irmis
>
>
>> BTW, whats the latest info on the phylogenetic placement of
> alvarezsaurids?
> I've heard that consensus is trending towards that they are the
> sister group
> to ornithomimosaurs.

That is a consensus of Paul Sereno, Larry Martin, and that's about it.
Nearly every other study has them come out as maniraptorans, although in
various spots within Maniraptora.

>  Where have Norell, Clark, Makovicky et al's recent
> trees placed them?

In some of their more recent analyses (the _Sinovenator_ paper, for
instance), they wind up as closer to birds than is Ornitholestes but outside
of ((Oviraptorosauria + Therizinosauroidea) + (Deinonychosauria + Avialae)).
In my most recent studies they fall closer to the deinonychosaur-avialian
clade than to oviraptorosaurs+therizinosaurs; this includes data from the
new specimen.  Not too many steps, though, can place them as basal
avialians.