Sinosauropteryx

Chinese lizard feather (or "Chinese reptile wing")

• Sino · Latin (from Greek Sinai) · China, Chinese
• sauros · Greek · lizard
• pteryx · Greek · wing or feather

The name means "Chinese lizard wing" or "Chinese lizard feather". It combines "Sino-" for China, where it was found, with the Greek words for lizard and wing/feather. It was chosen because this small theropod was the first non-avian dinosaur found with clear evidence of feather-like body covering (filamentous integument).

Named by

Ji and Ji

Year named

1996

Period

Early Cretaceous

Stage

Aptian

Found in

Yixian Formation, Liaoning Province, China

A compsognathid theropod. The type species is Sinosauropteryx prima. Some specimens preserve melanosomes that have been used to reconstruct a banded reddish-and-white tail.