New information on Nqwebasaurus thwazi, a coelurosaurian theropod from the Early Cretaceous Kirkwood Formation in South Africa

Abstract

We performed additional preparation on the holotype skeleton of Nqwebasaurus thwazi and discovered new skeletal material. We describe this material, which includes a maxilla with small, conical, unserrated teeth and bones of the braincase, as well as parts of the holotype postcranial anatomy that were previously poorly documented. We incorporate this new anatomical information into a broadly sampled matrix designed to test theropod relationships. Our phylogenetic results hypothesize that Nqwebasaurus is the basalmost ornithomimosaur, and recover numerous characters supporting this relationship, including features of the maxilla, frontal, dentition, axial skeleton, forelimb and hindlimb. Nqwebasaurus is the first African ornithomimosaur and the first Gondwanan member of this group known from articulated skeletal material, supporting the hypothesis that coelurosaurian groups were cosmopolitan during their early evolutionary history. The presence of reduced dentition and a gastric mill in Nqwebasaurus strongly suggest that this taxon was herbivorous.