Jinfengopteryx

Live reconstruction of Jinfengopteryx elegans

• China

• Jinfengopteryx elegans

Jinfengopteryx is a genus of feathered theropod dinosaurs from the Lower Cretaceous of the People's Republic of China.

Within the theropod Jinfengopteryx will be provided to troodontids and reached a length of about 55 centimeters. To date, the type species J. elegans is only known that was described scientifically in 2005.

The genus name is composed of " Jinfeng ", "Golden Phoenix " ( the queen of birds in Chinese folklore ) and the ancient Greek word πτέρυξ / pteryx for "Wings ".

Fossil record and age

Jinfengopteryx is by a single, nearly complete skeleton from Hebei Province known ( catalog number CAGS -IG - 04-0801 ), which is located in the anatomical network and shows imprints of contour feathers. However, it shows no long contour feathers on the hind legs, how they were discovered in related dinosaurs such as Pedopenna. Also preserved are several small, oval structures with a reddish- yellow color. Maybe it involves the remains of eggs or seeds, which had consumed the dinosaurs.

Stratigraphically, the fossils come from the not yet dated Qiaotou lineup, which is why her exact age is unknown. This formation is, however, to well known under the Yixian Formation, which dates from the Lower Cretaceous; thus Jinfengopteryx probably lived during the middle Cretaceous ( Hauterivian ).

System

The authors of the scientific first description hold Jinfengopteryx for basalsten ( most primitive ) Representatives of the Birds ( Avialae ) and, moreover, for a member of Archaeopterygidae family.

In 2007, she published further comparisons between Jinfengopteryx and Archaeopteryx and clung to the classification as Archaeopterygide, but offered no phylogenetic analyzes that could support such an association. Luis Chiappe pointed out that Jinfengopteryx had far more in common with the troodontids than Archaeopteryx - for example, was on the second toe of the Jinfengopteryx clearly seen a prolonged, sickle -like claw, which is a characteristic feature of the Deinonychosauria. Many other scientists have suspected affiliation with the troodontids how paleontologists Xu and Norell (2006), the similarities in physique and looked in the teeth. In a publication from 2007, which analyzed the relationships between Dromaeosauriden, troodontids and early birds, described Turner and his staff Jinfengopteryx as a troodontids and is the first member of this taxon in which a fletching could be detected.