Dinosaurs · Small theropod

Archaeopteryx

Say it ark-ee-OPT-er-ix. The name means ‘ancient wing’.

Archaeopteryx beside a person 1.75 m tall. Ticks mark every metre.Body shape drawn for this site, showing the general build of small theropods

Length: 0.5 m
Diet: Meat-eatermay have eaten small reptiles, mammals or insects
Walked: On 2 legs and by flying
When: Late Jurassic149 to 145 million years ago
Fossils found in: Germany
Named by: Mayer (1861)
Family tree: Dinosauria › Saurischia › Theropoda › Paraves › Archaeopterygidae

Where Archaeopteryx sits in the age of dinosaurs.Periods from the ICS chart; dinosaur dates from the Natural History Museum

Small theropods. Small two-legged dinosaurs, many feathered, the group that includes birds. See all 60

Lived at the same time

Other small theropods

Ornitholestes Late Jurassic
Compsognathus Late Jurassic
Juravenator Late Jurassic
Coelurus Late Jurassic
Guanlong Late Jurassic
Nqwebasaurus Mid Jurassic
Anchiornis Late Jurassic
Proceratosaurus Mid Jurassic

Source: Archaeopteryx in the Natural History Museum Dino Directory, read 12 November 2026. Sizes are the museum's estimates for a typical adult. "Lived at the same time" lists dinosaurs whose dates overlap, which does not always mean they met.