Editing Maniraptora (section)

===Alternative interpretations===
In 2002, Czerkas and Yuan reported that some maniraptoran traits, such as a long, backwards-pointed [[pubis (bone)|pubis]] and short [[Ischium|ischia]] were present in ''Scansoriopteryx'', a scansoriopterygid. The authors considered it to be more primitive than true theropods, and hypothesized that maniraptorans may have branched off from theropods at a very early point, or may even have descended from pre-theropod dinosaurs.<ref name="czerkas2002">Czerkas, S.A., and Yuan, C. (2002). "An arboreal maniraptoran from northeast China." Pp. 63-95 in Czerkas, S.J. (Ed.), ''Feathered Dinosaurs and the Origin of Flight.'' The Dinosaur Museum Journal '''1'''. The Dinosaur Museum, Blanding, U.S.A. [http://www.dinosaur-museum.org/featheredinosaurs/arboreal_maniraptoran.pdf PDF abridged version]</ref> Zhang ''et al.'', in describing the closely related or conspecific specimen ''[[Epidendrosaurus]]'' (now considered a synonym of ''[[Scansoriopteryx]]''), did not report any of the primitive traits mentioned by Czerkas and Yuan, but did find that the shoulder blade of ''Epidendrosaurus'' appeared primitive. Despite this, they placed ''Epidendrosaurus'' firmly within Maniraptora due to a number of synapomorphies.<ref name="zhang2002">Zhang, F., Zhou, Z., Xu, X. & Wang, X. (2002). "A juvenile coelurosaurian theropod from China indicates arboreal habits." ''Naturwissenschaften'', '''89'''(9): 394-398. doi:10.1007 /s00114-002-0353-8.</ref>