Outline: a typical theropod
Scansoriopteryx
skan-SOR-ee-OP-ter-iks
"climbing wing"
- Lived
- 126 to 120 million years ago, Early Cretaceous
- Diet
- Carnivore
- Group
- Theropods, Scansoriopterygidae
- Found in
- China
- Named by
- Czerkas and Yuan 2002
Where its fossils were found
The evidence
Today
125 million years ago
Field notes
About Scansoriopteryx
What it was like
Scansoriopteryx was a tiny, feathered theropod about the size of a sparrow. Its known skeleton is a young animal. Its third finger was very long, and its feet suggest it could climb trees. Its relative Yi had skin wings stretched from long fingers, and Scansoriopteryx may have had something similar.
Its world
It lived in what is now China, in forests beside lakes. The exact age of its rocks is uncertain.
How it was found
Czerkas and Yuan named Scansoriopteryx in 2002. Another name, Epidendrosaurus, was given to a very similar fossil at about the same time, and many scientists think the two are the same animal.
Lived alongside
Found in the same rock formations
Close relatives
Other members of Scansoriopterygidae
Sources: WikidataNamed in: S. A. Czerkas and C. Yuan. 2002. An arboreal maniraptoran from northeastern China. Feathered Dinosaurs and the Origin of Flight. The Dinosaur Museum Journal 1. The Dinosaur Museum, Blanding, UT