Sinosauropteryx

Uncommon card · No. 165612

Sinosauropteryx (meaning "Chinese reptilian wing") is an extinct genus of coelurosaurian theropod dinosaurs. Described in 1996, it was the first dinosaur taxon outside of Avialae (birds and their immediate relatives) to be found with evidence of feathers. It was covered with a coat of very simple filament-like feathers. Structures that indicate the colour pattern have also been preserved in some of its feathers, which show that Sinosauropteryx had a countershading pattern in its body with a banded tail. The reddish brown colouration previously inferred for Sinosauropteryx is based on the melanosomes preserved in the specimen of a separate genus, Huadanosaurus. Some contention has arisen with an alternative interpretation of the filamentous impression as remains of collagen fibres, but this has not been widely accepted. Sinosauropteryx was a small theropod with an unusually long tail and short arms. The longest known specimen reaches up to 1.07 metres (3.51 feet) in length, with an estimated...

Read on Wikipedia · Image Sam / Olai Ose / Skjaervoy from Zhangjiagang, China, CC BY-SA 2.0