Caudipteridae is an extinct

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

oviraptorosauria Oviraptorosaurs ("egg thief lizards") are a group of feathered maniraptoran dinosaurs from the Cretaceous Period (geology), Period of what are now Asia and North America. They are distinct for their characteristically short, beaked, parrot-like s ...

dinosaur Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic Geological period, period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the #Evolutio ...

s known from the

Early Cretaceous The Early Cretaceous (geochronology, geochronological name) or the Lower Cretaceous (chronostratigraphy, chronostratigraphic name) is the earlier or lower of the two major divisions of the Cretaceous. It is usually considered to stretch from 143.1 ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. Found in the Yixian and

Jiufotang Formation The Jiufotang Formation () is an Early Cretaceous geological formation in Chaoyang, Liaoning which has yielded fossils of feathered dinosaurs, primitive birds, pterosaurs, and other organisms (see Jehol Biota). It is a member of the Jehol group. T ...

s, the group existed between 125 and 120 million years ago. Distinguishing characteristics of this group have been indicated as including a unique dagger-shaped

pygostyle Pygostyle is a skeletal condition in which the final few caudal vertebrae are fused into a single ossification, supporting the tail feathers and musculature. In modern birds, the rectrices attach to these. The pygostyle is the main component o ...

(the bone at the tip of the tail in birds, used to anchor a "fan" of feathers).He, T., Wang, X.-L., and Zhou, Z.-H. (2008). "A new genus and species of caudipterid dinosaur from the Lower Cretaceous Jiufotang Formation of western Liaoning, China. The anatomical characteristics Caudipterids were highly uniform for most oviraptorians. of " ''Vertebrata PalAsiatica'', 46(3): 178-189. In 2015, the group was defined as "the most inclusive clade containing '' Caudipteryx zoui'' but not ''

Oviraptor philoceratops ''Oviraptor'' (; ) is a genus of oviraptorid dinosaur that lived in Asia during the Late Cretaceous period. The first remains were collected from the Djadokhta Formation of Mongolia in 1923 during a paleontological expedition led by Roy Chapman ...

'' and '' Caenagnathus collinsi''". The first caudipterid described was ''Caudipteryx zoui'' (named in 1998),Ji, Q., Currie, P.J., Norell, M.A., and Ji, S. (1998). "Two feathered dinosaurs from northeastern China." ''Nature'', 393(6687): 753–761
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though the family itself was not named until the discovery of a second species, ''

Caudipteryx dongi ''Caudipteryx'' (meaning "tail feather") is a genus of small oviraptorosaur dinosaurs that lived in Asia during the Early Cretaceous, around 124.6 million years ago. They were feathered and extremely birdlike in their overall appearance, to the ...

'', in 2000.Zhou, Z., and Wang, X. (2000). "A new species of ''Caudipteryx'' from the Yixian Formation of Liaoning, northeast China." ''Vertebrata PalAsiatica'', 38(2): 113–130
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Caudipteridae was restricted to the single genus ''Caudipteryx'' and was therefore monotypic, containing only a single type and often considered redundant. However, in 2008 '' Similicaudipteryx yixianensis'' was described and classified as a caudipterid.

References

Oviraptorosauria Dinosaur families Aptian dinosaurs Dinosaurs of China {{Theropod-stub

See also

References