Dinosaur with Bird-like Fingers, Limusaurus, Discovered in Late Jurassic, China

A new species of dinosaur with fingers featuring the same characteristics as birds has been discovered in the Late Jurassic strata (about 160 million years ago) of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, China.

The young saurischian theropod dinosaur, about 1.7 meters long, has been named "Limusaurus."

There is an interesting point about this discovery.

The newly discovered Limusaurus has traces of a reduced thumb, indicating that "like birds, it evolved to lose its thumb and little finger from a five-fingered hand."
The three fingers of Limusaurus are thought to be the index, middle, and ring fingers, just like in birds.

This discovery reinforces the theory that "some dinosaurs are the ancestors of birds."