View source for Epidexipteryx

== Dating ==
There is uncertainty about the age of the Daohugou Beds in which this fossil was found. Various papers have placed the fossils here anywhere from the [[Middle Jurassic]] (169 million years ago) to the [[Lower Cretaceous]] (122 ma).<ref name="ren2002">Ren D. ''et al.'' 2002. On the biostratigraphy of the Jurassic fossil beds at Daohugou near Ningcheng, Inner Mongolia. ''Geol. Bull. China'' '''21''', 584-591.</ref> The age of this formation has implications for the relationship between similar dinosaurs, as well as for the [[origin of birds]] in general. A Middle Jurassic age would mean that the bird-like dinosaurs in the Daohugou beds are older than the 'first bird', ''[[Archaeopteryx]]'', which was late Jurassic in age. Until this question is decided, the significance of ''Epidexipteryx'' (and other early dinobirds from that area) is not clear.