Editing Protarchaeopteryx (section)

==Description==
[[File:Protarchaeopteryx size 01.jpg|thumb|left|''Protarchaeopteryx'' size, compared to a human]]
[[File:Protarchaeopteryx.jpg|thumb|Skeletal reconstruction of known material]]
[[File:Protarchaeopteryx-swamp.png|thumb|Speculative life restoration]]
The [[holotype]] and only known specimen of ''Protarchaeopteryx'' is NGMC 2125, a partial skeleton.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Qiang|first1=Ji|last2=Currie|first2=Philip J.|last3=Norell|first3=Mark A.|last4=Shu-An|first4=Ji|date=June 1998|title=Two feathered dinosaurs from northeastern China|journal=Nature|language=En|volume=393|issue=6687|pages=753–761|doi=10.1038/31635|bibcode=1998Natur.393..753Q|s2cid=205001388|issn=1476-4687|url=http://doc.rero.ch/record/31829/files/PAL_E1436.pdf}}</ref>

''Protarchaeopteryx'' had long legs, and could have been a quick runner. It had well-developed, vaned feathers extended from a relatively short tail; the hands were long and slender, and had three fingers with sharp, curved claws. Its bones were hollow and bird-like, and it possessed a [[furcula|wishbone]].<ref name="EoDP">{{cite book |editor=Palmer, D.|year=1999 |title= The Marshall Illustrated Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Animals|publisher= Marshall Editions|location=London|page= 107|isbn= 1-84028-152-9}}</ref> At around {{convert|1|m|ft}} in length, it would have been larger than ''Archaeopteryx''.<ref name="EoDP" /> In 2016, Gregory S. Paul gave a lower estimate of {{convert|0.7|m|ft}} in length and {{convert|1.6|kg|lbs}} in body mass.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Paul|first=Gregory S.|url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/985402380|title=The Princeton Field Guide to Dinosaurs|year=2016|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-1-78684-190-2|oclc=985402380|pages=172}}</ref> ''Protarchaeopteryx'' also had symmetrical feathers on its tail. Since modern birds that have symmetrical feathers are flightless, and the skeletal structure of ''Protarchaeopteryx'' would not support flapping flight, it is assumed that it was flightless as well.<ref name="ji&ji1997">Ji, Q., and Ji, S. (1997). "A Chinese archaeopterygian, ''Protarchaeopteryx'' gen. nov." ''Geological Science and Technology (Di Zhi Ke Ji)'', '''238''': 38–41. Translated By Will Downs Bilby Research Center Northern Arizona University January, 2001</ref> It has been suggested that it could have had an [[arboreal]] lifestyle, jumping from tree limbs and using its forelimbs for a form of parachuting.<ref name="Currie2004">[[Philip J. Currie|Currie, P.J.]] (2004), ''Feathered dragons: studies on the transition from dinosaurs to birds'', [[Indiana University Press]], p. 184, plate 16.</ref>