Patagopteryx fossil map
Where fossils of Patagopteryx have been found, shown on the Earth as it looked about 85 million years ago and on today’s map.
Dots are fossil collections recorded in the Paleobiology Database. The “then” view moves today’s fossil sites back to their positions 85 million years ago (the time slice nearest the median age of the fossils) using the Merdith et al. (2021) plate model; positions are approximate. Open on the timeline map →
| Group | Theropods |
|---|---|
| Lived | 85.7–83.6 million years ago (Santonian) |
| Periods | Cretaceous |
| Named by | Alvarenga and Bonaparte 1992 |
| Fossil records | 1 occurrences at 1 locations (PBDB) |
| Found in | Argentina |
| Rock formations | Bajo de la Carpa |
About Patagopteryx
Patagopteryx is an extinct monotypic genus of euornithean dinosaurs that lived during the Late Cretaceous, around 80 mya, in what is now the Sierra Barrosa in northwestern Patagonia, Argentina. About the size of a chicken, it is the earliest known unequivocal example of secondary flightlessness: its skeleton shows clear indications that the ancestors of Patagopteryx were flying animals, though other studies find earlier diverging theropods to be secondarily flightless.
Located in strata of the Santonian Bajo de la Carpa Formation, the original remains were discovered by Oscar de Ferrariis, Director of the Natural History Museum of the Comahue National University in Neuquén around 1984–5. He passed them onto noted paleontologist José Bonaparte, who described the species Patagopteryx deferrariisi in 1992.
Text in “About” is quoted from the Wikipedia article Patagopteryx (revision 1378892179), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0; introduction excerpted verbatim, formatting removed. Ages, family, authority and fossil records: Paleobiology Database, accessed 23 October 2026. Ages are those of the rock layers the fossils were found in. Wikidata: Q2056622.
