Dino card No. 0928 of 2,015

Jurapteryx

Say it: joor-AP-ter-ix

Name means: “Jurassic wing”1

Ate: FishEarly birdsLate Jurassic to Early Cretaceous

Jurapteryx was a small, feathered avialan that lived during the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods. It could fly and had sharp teeth for catching fish and insects. Think of it as an early, toothed bird that fluttered through ancient forests.1

Lived

149 to 121 million years ago1

Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous

Fossils found in

Workerszell, Eichstätt, Germany1

Food

Fish1

Length

0.3 to 0.5 m1

estimated based on related Archaeopteryx specimens

Wingspan

0.5 to 0.7 m1

Weight

0.2 kg to 0.5 kg1

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

How big was it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

Jurapteryx is sometimes considered a synonym of Archaeopteryx, meaning some scientists think they are the same animal.1

Its name means 'Jurassic wing', because it lived during the Jurassic Period and had wings for flying.1

The only known fossil of Jurapteryx is a complete skeleton, found in the Altmühltal Formation of Germany.1

Jurapteryx lived in a coastal environment, near shallow lagoons where it could hunt for fish.1

It was a small avialan, about the size of a modern crow, with a wingspan of around half a meter.1

Jurapteryx had teeth, unlike modern birds, which it used to catch slippery prey like fish.1

AI-made picture of Jurapteryx — An AI-made picture of how Jurapteryx might have looked, made by a computer from what scientists know. It is a guess: the real animal may have looked different, and nobody knows its true colours.

Myth buster

Myth: Jurapteryx is a completely separate species from Archaeopteryx.

Truth: Many scientists think Jurapteryx is actually a synonym of Archaeopteryx, meaning it may be the same genus.1

For dino experts

Scientific name: Jurapteryx
Named by: Howgate 19851
Group: Early birds
Family / clade: Avialae1
Classification: Theropoda > Avialae1
Age of the rocks: 149 to 121 million years (Tithonian to Barremian)1
Rock formations: Altmühltal1
Countries: Germany1
Fossil records: 10 in the Paleobiology Database1
Discovery: Jurapteryx was named by M. E. Howgate in 1985, based on a complete skeleton found at Workerszell, Eichstätt, Germany.1
Still debated: Scientists are still debating whether Jurapteryx is a distinct genus or just a species of Archaeopteryx.1

Where the facts come from

Jurapteryx in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.

Every fact on this page has a number that points to its source. If we got something wrong, sorry, we are dino fans, not a science journal. Tell us at hello@dinowiki.app and we will fix it.