Caudipteryx | EPFL Graph Search

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Caudipteryx (which means "tail feather") is a genus of peacock-sized theropod dinosaurs that lived in the Barremian age of the early Cretaceous (about 124.6 million years ago). They were feathered and extremely birdlike in their overall appearance, to the point that some paleontologists think it was a bird. Two species have been described: C. zoui (the type species), in 1998, and C. dongi, in 2000. Caudipteryx fossils were first discovered in the Yixian Formation of the Sihetun area of Liaoning Province, northeastern China in 1997. Caudipteryx was a small theropod, measuring long and weighing about based on femur length. Like many other maniraptorans, has a mix of reptile- and bird-like anatomical features. It had a short, boxy skull with a beak-like snout that retained only a few tapered teeth in the front of the upper jaw. It had a stout trunk, long legs and was probably a swift runner. Its short tail was stiffened toward the tip, with few vertebrae, like in birds and other oviraptorosaurs. It has a primitive pelvis and shoulder, and primitive skull details in the quadratojugal, squamosal, quadrate, jugal, and mandibular fenestra (in the cheek, jaw, and jaw joint). It has a hand skeleton with a reduced third finger, like that of early birds and the oviraptorid Heyuannia. Caudipteryx had uncinate processes on the ribs, birdlike teeth, a first toe which may or may not be partially reversed and overall body proportions that are comparable to those of modern flightless birds. The hands of Caudipteryx supported symmetrical, pennaceous feathers that had vanes and barbs, measuring between long. The primary feathers were arranged in a wing-like fan along the second finger, just like primary feathers of birds and other maniraptorans. An additional fan of feathers existed on its tail. The body of C. zoui was covered in black feathers, with a visible banding pattern preserved on tail feathers. The consensus view, based on several cladistic analyses, is that Caudipteryx is a basal (primitive) member of the Oviraptorosauria, and the oviraptorosaurians are non-avian theropod dinosaurs.

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