Qiupanykus zhangi was named by Lü et al. (2018) [A small-sized alvarezsaurid dinosaur with the following combination of characters: posterior sacral vertebrae bearing a strong ventral keel; proximal caudals with transverse processes centrally positioned on centrum; pubic articular surface of the pubic peduncle of ilium is reduced and knob-like; fibular crest of tibia large and quadrangular; functional sacrum made up of eight vertebral elements (two anterior caudal plus six sacral vertebrae); a small pneumatic foramen is present in caudal vertebrae.]. Its type specimen is 41HIII-0101, a set of postcrania (Incomplete skeleton comprising most posterior axial elements and most of hindlimb elements), and it is a compression fossil. Its type locality is Guanping, Qiupa Town, which is in a Maastrichtian fluvial-lacustrine siltstone/mudstone in the Qiupa Formation of China. It is the type species of Qiupanykus.