Open Paleo

Caudipteridae

Zhou & Wang, 2000 Type genus Caudipteryx

Its genera lived 125.8–113.2 million years ago Early Cretaceous
Early Cretaceous stages

Caudipteridae is a family of small, feathered oviraptorosaurian theropod dinosaurs from the Early Cretaceous of China, known from the Yixian and Jiufotang Formations roughly 125 to 120 million years ago (He and colleagues, 2008). It groups Caudipteryx with close relatives such as Similicaudipteryx, forms that sit near the base of the oviraptorosaur radiation. Similicaudipteryx has a dagger-shaped pygostyle, the fused bone at the tip of the tail that in birds anchors a fan of feathers, whereas the distal caudal vertebrae of Caudipteryx are not fused (He and colleagues, 2008). The family was erected by Zhou and Wang (2000) with Caudipteryx as its only genus; Similicaudipteryx (He and colleagues, 2008) and Xingtianosaurus (Qiu and colleagues, 2019) were added later. Its standing as a natural group remains debated, with some analyses recovering it as a clade and others treating its members as a paraphyletic grade of basal oviraptorosaurs.

Under dispute

The status of Caudipteridae as a natural clade is debated. Dedicated oviraptorosaur analyses recover it as monophyletic: Lamanna and colleagues (2014) for Caudipteryx and Similicaudipteryx, and Qiu and colleagues (2019) adding Xingtianosaurus, though the latter found the family supported by a single character with the three genera in an unresolved polytomy. Hartman and colleagues (2019) instead find a grade of short-armed basal oviraptorosaurs including Similicaudipteryx, Caudipteryx and Avimimus, and Funston and colleagues (2020) and Cau and Madzia (2021) do not recover it either.

Diagnosis

  1. Small anterior premaxillary and maxillary teeth, absent posteriorly
  2. Elongate hindlimb with a cursorial, gracile build
  3. Short forelimb bearing remiges and a rectricial fan of pennaceous feathers
  4. Gastrolith clusters preserved in the abdominal region

Genera placed directly in Caudipteridae

Synonyms

Name Type Reason
Caudipterygidae emended spelling Unjustified emendation by Osmólska and colleagues (2004); a family name published after 1999 keeps its original stem (ICZN Art. 29.4).

References

  1. Zhou, Z.; Wang, X. (2000). A new species of Caudipteryx from the Yixian Formation of Liaoning, northeast China. Vertebrata PalAsiatica 38(2): 111-127.

    Erected the family (as Caudipteridae) for Caudipteryx.

    zhou2000b
  2. Lamanna, M. C.; Sues, H. D.; Schachner, E. R.; Lyson, T. R. (2014). A new large-bodied oviraptorosaurian theropod dinosaur from the latest Cretaceous of western North America. PLoS ONE 9(3): e92022. Public Library of Science (PLoS). doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0092022

    Oviraptorosaur phylogeny recovering the family as monophyletic in strict consensus, for Caudipteryx and Similicaudipteryx.

    lamanna2014a
  3. Qiu, R.; Wang, X.; Wang, Q.; Li, N.; Zhang, J.; Ma, Y. (2019). A new caudipterid from the Lower Cretaceous of China with information on the evolution of the manus of Oviraptorosauria. Scientific Reports 9(1). Springer Science and Business Media LLC. doi:10.1038/s41598-019-42547-6

    Erected Xingtianosaurus as a caudipterid and recovered Caudipteridae as monophyletic on a single character, with Caudipteryx, Similicaudipteryx and Xingtianosaurus in a polytomy.

    qiu2019a
  4. Hartman, S.; Mortimer, M.; Wahl, W. R.; Lomax, D. R.; Lippincott, J.; Lovelace, D. M. (2019). A new paravian dinosaur from the Late Jurassic of North America supports a late acquisition of avian flight. PeerJ 7: e7247. PeerJ. doi:10.7717/peerj.7247

    Recovered Similicaudipteryx as the first-branching oviraptorosaur and described basal oviraptorosaurs as a grade of short-armed taxa including Caudipteryx.

    hartman2019a
  5. Jones, B. (2026). The Princeton Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs: Theropods. Princeton University Press.

    Places Caudipteryx and Similicaudipteryx with Incisivosaurus among the basal oviraptorosaurs, without recognizing the family.

    jones2026c
  6. Osmólska, H.; Currie, P. J.; Barsbold, R. (2004). Oviraptorosauria. The Dinosauria, Second Edition (Weishampel, D. B.; Dodson, P.; Osmólska, H., eds.) 165-183. University of California Press, Berkeley. doi:10.1525/california/9780520242098.003.0010

    Writes the family as Caudipterygidae (emend.), crediting it to Zhou and Wang (2000).

    osmólska2004a
  7. He, T.; Wang, X. L.; Zhou, Z. H. (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.

    Described Similicaudipteryx, the first caudipterid from the Jiufotang Formation, with a dagger-like pygostyle unlike the unfused tail tip of Caudipteryx.

    he2008a
  8. Funston, G. F.; Chinzorig, T.; Tsogtbaatar, K.; Kobayashi, Y.; Sullivan, C.; Currie, P. J. (2020). A new two-fingered dinosaur sheds light on the radiation of Oviraptorosauria. Royal Society Open Science 7(10): 201184. The Royal Society. doi:10.1098/rsos.201184

    Recognized the basal caudipterids as one of four main oviraptorosaur clades.

    funston2020a
  9. Cau, A.; Madzia, D. (2021). The phylogenetic affinities and morphological peculiarities of the bird-like dinosaur Borogovia gracilicrus from the Upper Cretaceous of Mongolia. PeerJ 9: e12640. PeerJ. doi:10.7717/peerj.12640

    Did not recover the family; Caudipteryx is the sister of Microvenator.

    cau2021a