Dinosaurs · Small theropod
Protarchaeopteryx
Say it pro-tark-ee-op-ter-iks. The name means ‘before Archaeopteryx’.
- Length
- 2 m
- Diet
- Meat-eater
- When
- Early Cretaceous122 to 120 million years ago
- Fossils found in
- China
- Named by
- Ji and Ji (1997)
- Family tree
- Dinosauria › Saurischia › Theropoda › Paraves › Eumaniraptora
Small theropods. Small two-legged dinosaurs, many feathered, the group that includes birds. See all 60
Lived at the same time
- Equijubus · same country
- Sinornithosaurus · same country
- Archaeoceratops · same country
- Beipiaosaurus · same country
- Confuciusornis · same country
- Gobisaurus · same country
- Jinzhousaurus · same country
- Liaoceratops · same country
Other small theropods
- Sinornithosaurus Early Cretaceous
- Harpymimus Early Cretaceous
- Microraptor Early Cretaceous
- Caudipteryx Early Cretaceous
- Sinocalliopteryx Early Cretaceous
- Sinosauropteryx Early Cretaceous
- Shanag Early Cretaceous
- Beipiaosaurus Early Cretaceous
Source: Protarchaeopteryx 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.