Jinfengopteryx

File:Jinfengopteryx Scale.svg]]

Jinfengopteryx is known from one specimen (number CAGS-IG-04-0801), a nearly complete articulated skeleton, which measured {{cvt|55|cm|ft|sigfig=2}} long. It was preserved with extensive impressions of pennaceous feathers, but it lacks flight feathers on its hind legs, which are present in related dinosaurs such as Pedopenna or Anchiornis. It also preserves several small, oval structures that are reddish-yellow in color, possibly seeds that the dinosaur had eaten before it died; they may also be small eggs or developing follicles.{{Specify|reason=which meaning of follicle?|date=July 2020}}{{cite journal|author1=Ji Qiang|author2=Ji Shu'an|author3=Lu Junchang|author4=You Hailu|author5=Chen Wen|author6=Liu Yongqing|author7=Liu Yanxue|year=2005|title=First avialian bird from China (Jinfengopteryx elegans gen. et sp. nov.).|journal=Geological Bulletin of China|volume=24|issue=3|pages=197–205|url=http://caod.oriprobe.com/articles/8775970/First_avialian_bird_from_China_Jinfengopteryx_elegans_gen__et_sp__nov_.htm}} If the oval structures are indeed seeds, they could indicate that Jinfengopteryx was an omnivore.{{cite journal|first1=Lindsay E.|last1=Zanno|first2=David D.|last2=Gillette|first3=L. Barry|last3=Albright|first4=Alan L.|last4=Titus|year=2009|title=A new North American therizinosaurid and the role of herbivory in 'predatory' dinosaur evolution|journal=Proc. R. Soc. B|volume=276|issue=1672|pages=3505–11|doi=10.1098/rspb.2009.1029|pmid=19605396|pmc=2817200}}

Jinfengopteryx preserves feather impressions "around the neck, the body, the hips, the upper hindlimbs, the tail, and near the manus" (end of the front limbs). The specimen shows short, simple feathers on its neck, body, hips, and upper legs. Also preserved are long, vaned tail feathers that become increasingly longer distally (away from the body).

A 2020 study on paravian flight capacities demonstrates that Jinfengopteryx matches closely with other flying non-avian theropods like Microraptor and Rahonavis.{{cite bioRxiv|title=Powered flight potential approached by wide range of close avian relatives but achieved selectively|last1=Pei|first1=R.|last2=Pittman|first2=M.|last3=Goloboff|first3=P. A.|last4=Dececchi|first4=T. A.|last5=Habib|first5=M. B.|last6=Kaye|first6=T. G.|last7=Larsson|first7=H. C. E.|last8=Norell|first8=M. A.|last9=Brusatte|first9=S. L.|last10=Xu|first10=X.|biorxiv=10.1101/2020.04.17.046169|date=2020-04-17}}

File:Jinfengopteryx wiki.jpg]]

File:Jinfengopteryx elegans.jpg

The authors of the original description considered Jinfengopteryx to be the most basal avialan (bird), and a member of the family Archaeopterygidae. In a 2007 follow-up paper, they went on to compare Jinfengopteryx and Archaeopteryx, still supporting its placement as an archaeopterygid, but providing no phylogenetic analysis.Ji S., and Ji, Q. (2007). "Jinfengopteryx compared to Archaeopteryx, with comments on the mosaic evolution of long-tailed avialan birds." Acta Geologica Sinica (English Edition), 81(3): 337-343. However, Luis Chiappe pointed out that Jinfengopteryx appears to have more in common with the troodontids, such as an enlarged claw on its short second toe, and that numerous scientists suspect it may belong to that group.Chiappe, L.M. Glorified Dinosaurs: The Origin and Early Evolution of Birds. Sydney: UNSW Press. In 2006, Xu and Norell also suggested that Jinfengopteryx was a troodontid, based on general body plan and features of the teeth.Xu and Norell (2006). "Non-avian dinosaur fossils from the Lower Cretaceous Jehol Group of western Liaoning, China." Geological Journal, 41(3-4): 419-437. In a 2007 analysis of the relationships between troodontids, dromaeosaurids, and early birds, Turner and colleagues did find Jinfengopteryx to be a troodontid, and referred it to that group, noting that it is the first troodontid specimen to preserve evidence of feathers.{{cite journal|last1=Turner|first1=Alan H.|last2=Pol|first2=Diego|last3=Clarke|first3=Julia A.|last4=Erickson|first4=Gregory M.|last5=Norell|first5=Mark|year=2007|title=A basal dromaeosaurid and size evolution preceding avian flight|url=http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/reprint/317/5843/1378.pdf|journal=Science|volume=317|pages=1378–1381|doi=10.1126/science.1144066|pmid=17823350|issue=5843|bibcode=2007Sci...317.1378T|doi-access=free}} In 2012, Turner and colleagues erected a new subfamily called Jinfengopteryginae. The unique features of that subfamily include the large antorbital fenestrae and the bifurcated jugal. The specimen IGM 100/1126 (currently without an assigned genus) is the closest relative of Jinfengopteryx within the group.{{cite journal|last1=Turner|first1=Alan H.|last2=Makovicky|first2=Peter J.|last3=Norell|first3=Mark A.|year=2012|title=A review of dromaeosaurid systematics and paravian phylogeny|journal=Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History|volume=317|pages=1–206|url=http://digitallibrary.amnh.org/dspace/bitstream/handle/2246/6352/B371.pdf?sequence=1|format=pdf|doi=10.1206/748.1|hdl=2246/6352|s2cid=83572446|hdl-access=free}}

{{Cladogram|width=350|caption=Cladogram following the results of a phylogenetic study by Cau et al., 2015.{{cite journal|doi=10.7717/peerj.1032|pmid=26157616|pmc=4476167|title=The phylogenetic affinities of the bizarre Late Cretaceous Romanian theropod Balaur bondoc(Dinosauria, Maniraptora): Dromaeosaurid or flightless bird?|journal=PeerJ|volume=3|pages=e1032|year=2015|last1=Cau|first1=Andrea|last2=Brougham|first2=Tom|last3=Naish|first3=Darren |doi-access=free }}|clades=

{{clade|style=font-size:80%;line-height:80%

|1=Oviraptorosauria

|label2=Paraves

|2={{clade

|1={{extinct}}Scansoriopterygidae

|2={{clade

|1={{extinct}}Eosinopteryx

|label2=Eumaniraptora

|2={{clade

|1=†Jinfengopteryx

|2=†Aurornis

|3=†Dromaeosauridae

|4=†Troodontidae

|label5=Avialae

|5={{clade

|1=†Anchiornis

|2={{clade

|1=†Archaeopteryx

|2=True birds and other avialans

}} }} }} }} }} }} }}

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{{Wiktionary|Jinfengopteryx}}

• [http://dml.cmnh.org/2005Mar/msg00372.html Discussion of the affinities of Jinfengopteryx] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080106192923/http://dml.cmnh.org/2005Mar/msg00372.html |date=2008-01-06 }}, from the [http://dml.cmnh.org/ Dinosaur Mailing List].

{{Troodontidae}}

{{Taxonbar|from=Q132717}}

Category:Troodontidae

Category:Dinosaur genera

Category:Barremian dinosaurs

Category:Taxa named by Hailu You

Category:Fossil taxa described in 2005

Category:Dinosaurs of China

Category:Feathered dinosaurs