Genus
Valid Extinct

Protarchaeopteryx

Ji and Ji 1997

Protarchaeopteryx is a genus of turkey-sized feathered theropod dinosaur from China. Known from the Jianshangou bed of the Yixian Formation, it lived during the early Aptian age of the Early Cretaceous, approximately 124.6 million years ago. It was probably a herbivore or omnivore, although its hands were very similar to those of small carnivorous dinosaurs. It appears to be one of the most basal members of the Oviraptorosauria, closely related to Incisivosaurus, or a taxon slightly less closely related to birds than oviraptorosaurs were.

Temporal range
Triassic
Jurassic
Cretaceous
Paleogene
Neogene
252 201 145 66 0 Ma
PBDB occurrences
1
Group
Dinosaures
Omnivore Ground dwelling (surface) Terrestrial
Protarchaeopteryx
click to enlarge
Holotype of Protarchaeopteryx robusta on display at the Geological Museum of China. © Jonathan Chen · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia
PBDB Wikipedia
Classification
Dinosauria Unranked clade
Theropoda Unranked clade
Neotheropoda Unranked clade
Averostra Unranked clade
Tetanurae Unranked clade
Coelurosauria Unranked clade
Maniraptora Unranked clade
Oviraptorosauria Infraorder
Protarchaeopteryx Genus
Measurements
Length
2 m
Fossil sites 1 geolocated sites
Distribution
Top countries
🇨🇳 China
1
Geological formations
Yixian
1
Temporal distribution
Barremian (125.77–121.4 Ma)
1
Species (1)
Protarchaeopteryx robusta 126 Ma
Images 2
Bibliography
Original description
Q. Ji and S.-A. Ji. 1997. [Protarchaeopteryx gen. nov.—a new genus of Archaeopterygidae in China]. Chinese Geology 238(3):38-41
Bibliography (1)
Q. Ji, P. J. Currie, and M. A. Norell, S.-A. Ji. 1998. Two feathered dinosaurs from northeastern China. Nature 393:753-762 DOI ↗