Outline: a typical theropod
Similicaudipteryx
"like Caudipteryx"
Type species Similicaudipteryx yixianensis
- Lived
- 121 to 113 million years ago, Early Cretaceous
- Diet
- Omnivore
- Group
- Theropods, Caudipterygidae
- Found in
- China
- Named by
- He et al. 2008
Where its fossils were found
The evidence
Today
115 million years ago
Field notes
About Similicaudipteryx
What it was like
Similicaudipteryx was a feathered dinosaur, an early relative of Oviraptor and a close cousin of Caudipteryx. It had a fan of feathers on its tail.
Young and older animals had different feathers. The youngest had ribbon-like feathers, and adults had more normal ones, which shows that feathers changed as these animals grew.
Its world
It lived in the Early Cretaceous in what is now northeastern China. Its bones come from the Jiufotang Formation, where it shared the land with the four-winged Microraptor and the beaked Psittacosaurus.
How it was found
He and colleagues named Similicaudipteryx in 2008.
Lived alongside
Found in the same rock formations
Close relatives
Other members of Caudipterygidae
Sources: WikidataNamed in: T. He, X.-L. Wang, and Z.-H. Zhou. 2008. A new genus and species of caudipterid dinosaur from the Lower Cretaceous Jiufotang Formation of western Liaoning, China. Vertebrata PalAsiatica 46(3):178-189