Maniraptoromorpha


Maniraptoromorpha is a clade of coelurosaurian theropod dinosaurs that includes the taxa Ornitholestes, Coelurus, Compsognathidae and Maniraptoriformes. There has been several phylogenetic analyses that have shown support in the grouping of Maniraptoriformes with at least the aforementioned Ornitholestes. This group was named by Andrea Cau, who defined it as the "most inclusive clade containing Vultur gryphus Linnaeus, 1758, and excluding Tyrannosaurus rex Osborn, 1905."
This group of coelurosaurs according to Cau has the following synapomorphies:
Keel or carinae in the postaxial cervical centra, absence of hyposphene-hypantra in caudal vertebrae , a prominent dorsomedial process on the semilunate carpal, a convex ventral margin of the pubic foot, a subrectangular distal end of tibia and a sulcus along the posterior margin of the proximal end of fibula.

In 2019 Hendrickx et al. established the maniraptoromorph subclade Neocoelurosauria as a branch-based node for the clade containing Maniraptoriformes and Compsognathidae.