Jinfengopteryx
Jinfengopteryx (from , 'golden phoenix', the queen of birds in Chinese folklore, and , meaning 'feather') is a genus of maniraptoran dinosaur. It was found in the Qiaotou Member of the Huajiying Formation of Hebei Province, China, and is therefore of uncertain age. The Qiaotou Member may correlate with the more well-known Early Cretaceous Yixian Formation, and so probably dates to around 122 Ma (122 million years) ago.
Article
7 sectionsContents
- Description
- Feathers
- Flight
- Classification
- See also
- References
- External links
Jinfengopteryx (from , 'golden phoenix', the queen of birds in Chinese folklore, and , meaning 'feather') is a genus of maniraptoran dinosaur. It was found in the Qiaotou Member of the Huajiying Formation of Hebei Province, China, and is therefore of uncertain age. The Qiaotou Member may correlate with the more well-known Early Cretaceous Yixian Formation, and so probably dates to around 122 Ma (122 million years) ago.
==Description== thumb|left|upright|Size compared with a human Jinfengopteryx is known from one specimen (number CAGS-IG-04-0801), a nearly complete articulated skeleton, which measured long. It was preserved with extensive impressions of pennaceous feathers, but it lacks flight feathers on its hind legs, which are present in related dinosaurs such as Pedopenna or Anchiornis. It also preserves several small, oval structures that are reddish-yellow in color, possibly seeds that the dinosaur had eaten before it died; they may also be small eggs or developing follicles. If the oval structures are indeed seeds, they could indicate that Jinfengopteryx was an omnivore.