Unlike other deinonychosaurs, hesperonychids (who, despite their name, are unrelated to the cretaceous microraptorine Hesperonychus, a possible renaming of the entire family of deinonychosaurs will take place some time in the future) possess a highly flexible joint on their inner toes, rendering these talons not only hyper-extendable, but also opposable, with the other two toes of the foot (to one degree or another). While some have suggested this trait links the hesperonychids to the arbronychids, other morphological and genetic evidence suggests otherwise, and instead classifies the hesperonychids as basal deinonychosaurs related to the mattiraptors. Perhaps this peculiar pedal anatomy was originally intend for use in the trees, but today only a single hesperonychid genus (Janaata) has m