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Description
The Near Bird, Anchiornis huxleyi. First thought to be an avialan close to Archaeopteryx, now known to be a troodontid with Microraptor-like feathers, proving that all deinonychosaurs and possibly all birds evolved from a four-winged body plan.

Anchiornis is extra weird to the the complete feathering of the foot, like a modern Ptarmigan. In a future, more refined digipainting I'll try to emphasize its other notable feature--its minuscule size. Anchiornis was 34 cm long including tail and about 110 grams in weight, as an adult, making it the smallest dinosaur in overall size. Epidexipteryx is shorter but only because it lacks a long skeletal tail.

Oh, and it's from a few million years before Archaeopteryx, and it's even earlier than Epidexipteryx/Pedopenna/et al. But it's not the first bird because people don't like their Velociraptors being called birds, and yes that's the only reason

Description
The Near Bird, Anchiornis huxleyi. First thought to be an avialan close to Archaeopteryx, now known to be a troodontid with Microraptor-like feathers, proving that all deinonychosaurs and possibly all birds evolved from a four-winged body plan.

Anchiornis is extra weird to the the complete feathering of the foot, like a modern Ptarmigan. In a future, more refined digipainting I'll try to emphasize its other notable feature--its minuscule size. Anchiornis was 34 cm long including tail and about 110 grams in weight, as an adult, making it the smallest dinosaur in overall size. Epidexipteryx is shorter but only because it lacks a long skeletal tail.

Oh, and it's from a few million years before Archaeopteryx, and it's even earlier than Epidexipteryx/Pedopenna/et al. But it's not the first bird because people don't like their Velociraptors being called birds, and yes that's the only reason