Sinornithosaurus

plural Sinornithosauruses

1. A small, carnivorous, dromaeosaurid dinosaur which belongs to the family Dromaeosauridae of subfamily Microraptorinae.

   A large promaxillary fenestra is also seen in other Liaoning dromaeosaurids such as Sinornithosaurus 21 and Tianyuraptor 15, but it is much smaller in most other dromaeosaurids, such as Velociraptor 26 and Tsaagan 27 .

   2015 July 16, Junchang Lü, Stephen Louis Brusatte, “A large, short-armed, winged dromaeosaurid (Dinosauria: Theropoda) from the Early Cretaceous of China and its implications for feather evolution”, in Scientific Reports, volume 5, →DOI

   Synonyms: dromaeosaurid, Dromaeosaurus

2. A genus of feathered dromaeosaurid dinosaurs from the early Cretaceous which originated in what is now China.

   We believe the first lice lived on feathered dinosaurs about 125 million years ago. [Image] Sinornithosaurus (Cretaceous Period)

   2023, translated in 2025, Berta Páramo and translated by Marc Correa Haro, Lice: How to Survive on Humans, pages 170-171

   2 more examples

   Sinornithosaurus was an early member of the dromaeosaur family. [...] Sinornithosaurus means "Chinese bird lizard," but this species wasn't a true bird, since it was probably too heavy to fly, although like other dromaeosaurs it might have evolved from a flying ancestor.

   2013, DK: Margaret Parrish, Caroline Bingham, and Ben Morgan, Dinosaurs: A Visual Encyclopedia, page 202

   Sinornithosaurus millenii (meaning “Chinese bird lizard of the millennium”) was among the earliest fossils discovered of a nonavian theropod bearing feathers. These included downy tufts along most of the animal's body, as well as long shafts along the limbs. Several species of Sinornithosaurus have been described, and numerous others remain undescribed within museum archives.

   2026, Bryce Jones, The Princeton Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs: Theropods, page 450

3. pluralPlural of Sinornithosaurus.

   Synonyms: Microraptoriae, dromaeosaurid, theropod, saurischian, dinosaur, Dromaeosaurus, Theropoda, Saurischia