Epidexipteryx

What it was like

Epidexipteryx was a tiny feathered dinosaur, about the size of a pigeon. Its body was covered in short feathers, and its short tail ended in long, ribbon-like plumes that were probably for show rather than flight.

It had a short, high skull with forward-pointing front teeth, and a very long third finger, a feature it shared with its odd relatives, the scansoriopterygids.

Its world

It lived about 165 to 162 million years ago, in the Middle Jurassic, in what is now China. Its fossil comes from the Tiaojishan Formation, where other small feathered dinosaurs such as Anchiornis and the bat-winged Yi also lived.

How it was found

Zhang and colleagues named Epidexipteryx in 2008. The type species is Epidexipteryx hui. It is known from a single skeleton.