Palaeopteryx
From Greek palaios (ancient) and pteryx (wing); meaning "ancient wing".
Palaeopteryx is an extinct genus of dubious paravian theropod dinosaur from the Morrison Formation of Colorado. The type species is P. thomsoni.
Under dispute
Palaeopteryx thomsoni is based on a fragmentary bone reidentified as the distal radius of a small deinonychosaur or bird; Jensen and Padian (1989) regarded the binomial as invalid and based on non-diagnostic material, and Jones (2026) lists it among nomina dubia. It is placed conservatively at Maniraptora incertae sedis.
Species
Palaeopteryx thomsoni Jensen, 1981 Nomen dubium
Type species
Named in honor of Sir Arthur Thomson.
- Holotype
- BYU 2022 , Earth Sciences Museum, Brigham Young University
- Material
- A single bone end, reidentified by Jensen and Padian (1989) as the distal radius of a maniraptoran theropod (deinonychosaur or bird), having originally been described as the proximal tibiotarsus of a bird.
- Horizon
- lower Brushy Basin Member, Morrison Formation, Kimmeridgian–Tithonian, Late Jurassic , 154.8–143.1 million years ago
- Locality
- Dry Mesa Quarry, Colorado, United States
References
- Jensen, J. A. (1981). Another look at Archaeopteryx as the world's "oldest" bird. Encyclia 58: 109-128. jensen1981a
-
Jensen, J. A.; Padian, K. (1989). Small pterosaurs and dinosaurs from the Uncompahgre fauna (Brushy Basin Member, Morrison Formation: ?Tithonian), Late Jurassic, western Colorado. Journal of Paleontology 63(3): 364-373. Cambridge University Press (CUP). doi:10.1017/S0022336000019533
Reidentifies the Palaeopteryx holotype BYU 2022 as the distal radius of a maniraptoran theropod and regards Palaeopteryx thomsoni as invalid (non-diagnostic and never properly diagnosed).
jensen1989a -
Jones, B. (2026). The Princeton Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs: Theropods. Princeton University Press.
Illustrated by E. Viola.
jones2026c