Caudipteryx: Encyclopedia - Caudipteryx

Caudipteryx

C. zoui Ji, Currie, Norell & Ji, 1998
C. dongi Zhou & Wang, 2000

Caudipteryx was a genus of small, peacock-sized Early Cretaceous theropods (members of Theropoda, the group of typically carnivorous dinosaurs) that lived about 125 million years ago. Its most remarkable feature was its feathers.

Two species have been named, C. zoui and C. dongi. Caudipteryx fossils were first discovered in the Liaoning Province of northeastern China in 1997. The animals had a short skull that retained only a few teeth in the front of the upper jaw. They had symmetrical, pennaceous feathers on its short tail and hands. The shortness of these feathers and their symmetry indicate that Caudipteryx could not fly, but it could possibly have been the descendant of flying ancestors. It is often surmised to have been a herbivore. In cladistic analyses, Caudipteryx is usually shown to be closely related to the Oviraptoridae.

Paleontologists Alan Feduccia and Larry Martin, however, claim the remains are not dinosaurian at all, but those of a bird. They note that the fossils have a short tail, similar to the bird Confusiusornis, and the skull shows many birdlike features that are not found in theropods. Stomach stones were present, which indicate that these were herbivores, resembling Enanthiornites and flightless birds. The fossils have no predatory hand claws like theropods, and lack the serrated teeth typical of theropods. Feduccia believes these fossils are flightless birds that evolved from a flying ancestor, probably Archaeopteryx.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Caudipteryx", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki