Sinosauropteryx is an ancient Chinese dinosaur that lived during the Early Cretaceous period. This small feathered dinosaur is one of the most well-known and studied dinosaurs from China, and it has helped to shed light on the evolution
Sinosauropteryx is an extinct genus of coelurosaurian theropod dinosaurs. Described in 1996, it was the first dinosaur taxon outside of Avialae 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.