Paraprotopteryx

near Protopteryx (beside the first wing)

• para · Greek · beside, near
• proto · Greek · first
• pteryx · Greek · wing, feather

The name combines the Greek "para" (beside or near) with Protopteryx, an earlier-named enantiornithine bird whose own name means "first wing". It signals that this bird resembles and is closely comparable to Protopteryx, which comes from the same fossil region in northern China.

Named by

Zheng et al.

Year named

2007

Period

Early Cretaceous

Found in

Huajiying Formation, Hebei Province, China

An enantiornithine bird (an early, extinct lineage of birds). Birds are living dinosaurs, so it counts as a dinosaur in the broad sense, but it is not a non-avian dinosaur. The type species is Paraprotopteryx gracilis. Its distinctness from Protopteryx has been questioned by some researchers.