Sinornithosaurus
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| phylum | Chordata | Sinornithosaurus is a feathered dromaeosaurid dinosaur from the early Cretaceous Period of the Yixian Formation in what is now China. Xu Xing described Sinornithosaurus and performed a phylogenetic analysis which demonstrated that it is basal, or primitive, among the dromaeosaurs. He has also demonstrated that features of the skull and shoulder are very similar to Archaeopteryx and other Avialae. Together these two facts demonstrate that the earliest dromaeosaurs were more like birds than the later dromaeosaurs were. This talks against one argument made by critics of the theory that birds evolved from dinosaurs, namely that the most birdlike dinosaurs are predated by the earliest birds.
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| clade | Diapsida | |
| infraclass | Dinosauria | |
| order | Saurischia | |
| Suborder | Theropoda | |
| family | Dromaeosauridae | |
| genus | Sinornithosaurus | |
| Period | Early Cretaceous |
