Talk:Protarchaeopteryx

Technical Fixes
The entry concludes with:


 * Protoarchaeopteryx came before the Archaeopteryx. This means that Protoarchaeopteryx is a theropod dinosaur and not a bird. Protoarchaeopteryx did have symmetrical featehrs on its arms. Modern birds that have symmetrical feathers are flightless and it is assumed that the Protoarchaeopteryx was flightless as well. Protoarchaeopteryx is shaped more like a raptor than a bird.

It did not come before Archaeopteryx, though it may be more primitive. Birds are theropod dinosaurs, so the second sentence is meaningless without clarification. The statement that Protarchaeopteryx is shaped more like a raptor than a bird is confusing--most people associate 'raptor' with dromaeosaur, and it certainly did not look like one of those. I'm going to fix this bit up.Dinoguy2 03:59, 8 December 2005 (UTC)

What kind of family name is Chuniaoia anyway? Answer: it's not a family, but a controversial clade. Here's the NL WP article: Dysmorodrepanis 19:03, 29 April 2006 (UTC)
 * Certainly not a family as it doesn't end in -idae, but currently the only published clade name for the often supported group of Protarchaeopteryx + Incisivosaurus.Dinoguy2 23:00, 29 April 2006 (UTC)

Does anyone have any idea about the status of Protarchaeopteryx vis a vis Archaeopteryx? As far as I know, true birds belong over in Paraves, along with Dromeasauridae. If this thing's an oviraptorasaur, it's about as closely related to Archaeopteryx as I am to a spider monkey. Moonsword 00:31, 11 October 2006 (UTC)
 * Correct. When first found, the authors thought Protarchie was an archaeopterygid. Pretty much all subsequent papers have placed it in oviraptorosauria as a close relative of Caudipteryx and Incisivosaurus (which might turn out to be a junior synonym of Protarchaeopteryx).Dinoguy2 23:34, 11 October 2006 (UTC)

(Pinging and ) Since I don't want to start a new section on this, on another "technical" note, a photo of a fossil recently added does not show Protarchaeopteryx, but a specimen of Caudipteryx, specifically this specimen. The Protarchaeopteryx holotype is very incomplete, so perhaps it was adjacent to the Caudipteryx, and the photographer thought that was it, or something. FunkMonk (talk) 05:47, 26 September 2017 (UTC)
 * Yeah I was wondering about that. Certainly looks more like Caudipteryx or Similicaudipteryx. IJReid  discuss 13:58, 26 September 2017 (UTC)

Phylogenetic status of Protarchaeopteryx
The placement of Protarchaeopteryx within Archaeopterygidae follows Chiappe, Ji, Ji & Norell (1999), Paul (2002), Zhou & Zheng (2002), and Chiappe (2002). For this reason, transfer Protarchaeopteryx to Aves.

Chiappe, L. M., 2002: Basal Bird Phylogeny: Problems and Solutions. 448-472. in Chiappe, L. M. & Witmer, L. M., (eds.) 2002: Mesozoic Birds - Above the Heads of Dinosaurs. –University of California Press, Berkeley, Los Angeles, London, 2002, xii-520

Chiappe, L. M., Ji, Shu'an, Ji, Qiang & Norell, M. A., 1999: Anatomy and systematics of the Confuciusornithidae (Theropoda: Aves) from the Late Mesozoic of Northeastern China. –Bulletin of American Museum of Natural History: #242, 1-89

Paul, G. S., 2002: Dinosaurs of the Air: the evolution and loss of flight in Dinosaurs and Birds. –Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 2002, ix-460

Zhou, Z. & Zhang, F., 2002: A long-tailed, seed-eating bird from the Early Cretaceous of China. –Nature: Vol. 418, July 26, pp. 405 - 409
 * Some of those authors also place place all oviraptorosaurs in Aves. Keep it here, barring a wholesale revision of maniraptoran phylogeny on Wikipedia. Dinoguy2 06:02, 28 December 2006 (UTC)

ProtoArchaeopteryx or Protarchaeopteryx
The book I am reading, Sibley's Guide to Bird Life and Behavior uses the former (with the "o") which also makes logical sense. Should we move this to the correctly spelled page? speednat (talk) 06:42, 30 May 2010 (UTC)
 * I don't have the Sibley book, but are you sure they're not talking hypothetically, as in "proto Archaeopteryx", like the hypothetical "Proavis", as opposed to the actual species Protarchaeopteryx robusta? If not, it's probably just a typo. MMartyniuk (talk) 07:04, 30 May 2010 (UTC)
 * This is the correctly-spelled page. Firsfron of Ronchester  06:51, 30 May 2010 (UTC)
 * Alright, it just seems weird, I also found this, but I am going to add a redirect. speednat (talk) 07:50, 30 May 2010 (UTC)