Omnisaura

Dinosaur genus

Sinornithoides

Russell and Dong 1994

Sinornithoides is a dinosaur genus known from bones, found in rocks 137.1–100.5 million years old, in China.

Confidence labels
How sure are we?0 high7 medium4 lowHow we rate confidence

Confidence labels are switched off. Facts with low confidence, or where sources disagree, still carry a small dot: tap it for the reason.

At a glance

Data as of 11 October 2026
137.1–100.5 Ma
Triassic
Jurassic
Cretaceous
252 million years ago20114366

The last non-bird dinosaurs died out 66 million years ago. That's as far from us as the end of this bar.

Named by
Russell and Dong 1994
mediummedium: PBDB and Wikidata agree on who named it; Wikidata gives the year as 1993, one year apart, as when a work is dated one year and comes out the next.
Sources

Given by: Paleobiology Database. How it was chosen: PBDB leads.

Described in
D. A. Russell, Z.-M. Dong (1994). A nearly complete skeleton of a new troodontid dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous of the Ordos Basin, Inner Mongolia, People's Republic of China. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 30(10-11): 2163–2173. Read it
mediummedium: Only PBDB gives this; its author and year match the naming authority (Russell and Dong 1994).
Sources

Given by: Paleobiology Database. The publication the Paleobiology Database gives as the authority for this genus name, usually the one that first named and described it.

Lived
Albian, 113.2–110.1 million years ago
mediummedium: Only PBDB gives this; nothing contradicts it.
Omnisaura calculation137.1–100.5 million years ago, from its dated fossil records
lowlow: Omnisaura's calculation from only 2 dated record(s).
Sources

Given by: Paleobiology Database. How it was chosen: PBDB leads.

Fossils found in
China
mediummedium: Only PBDB records it (2 records).
Sources

Given by: Paleobiology Database. How it was chosen: Union of all sources (ISO 3166).

Rock formations
Ejinhoro
lowlow: Only one PBDB record.
Zhonggou
lowlow: Only one PBDB record.
Sources

Given by: Paleobiology Database. How it was chosen: Canonical names, automatic and editor-approved matches applied.

Family
Troodontidae
mediummedium: Only PBDB gives this; nothing contradicts it.
Sources

Given by: Paleobiology Database. How it was chosen: PBDB leads.

Parent group
Troodontinae
mediummedium: Only PBDB gives this; nothing contradicts it.
Sources

Given by: Paleobiology Database. How it was chosen: PBDB leads.

Species named in its records
Sinornithoides youngi
Sources

Given by: Paleobiology Database (the species its fossil records are identified as).

Diet
carnivore, omnivore (inferred for its group)
mediummedium: Only PBDB gives this, and it infers it for the whole of Troodontidae, the group this genus belongs to, not from this genus's own fossils.
Sources

Given by: Paleobiology Database. How it was chosen: PBDB, inferred from a group the genus belongs to.

Way of life
ground dwelling (inferred for its group)
lowlow: PBDB infers this way of life for the whole of Troodontidae; behaviour is rarely known for one genus.
Sources

Given by: Paleobiology Database. How it was chosen: PBDB, inferred from a group the genus belongs to.

Known from
Bones
Sources

Given by: Paleobiology Database (what the name was based on).

Sources: Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0), Wikidata (CC0 1.0)Confidence levels and gaps are Omnisaura's own assessment.

Gaps are answers

What isn't known yet

  • Type species: no source we use gives it yet.
  • Order: no source we use gives it yet.
  • Common names: no source we use gives it yet.
  • What it was named after: no source we use gives it yet.
  • Resting on one source: 4 facts come from a single source with nothing against them (rated medium): parent group (PBDB); family (PBDB); age (headline) (PBDB); diet (PBDB).

Size and appearance aren't covered yet, and diet and way of life only as PBDB infers them for the wider group. Omnisaura leaves the rest out rather than guess.

Where sources disagree

None open. Where our sources overlap, they agree on everything shown here.

Did it meet…?

?

No. Sinornithoides had gone at least 16.9 million years before Tyrannosaurus appears in the fossil record.

Going by the ages and rock formations of their dated fossils, as on the map. Compare their fossil sites on the map.

Connections

Genera linked to Sinornithoides by where and when their fossils were found, by classification and by who named them. Select a name to open its page.

SinornithoidesSame rocks, same timeSame familySame naming authorAlso found in ChinaPsittacosaurusArchaeoceratopsAuroraceratopsNanshiungosaurusand 2 moreAlbertavenatorAlmasAnchiornisArchaeornithoidesand 12 moreAlxasaurusArchaeornithomimusBellusaurusChungkingosaurusand 9 moreGrallatorBrontopodusEubrontesCaririchniumand 63 more

Same rocks, same time 6

Genera found in the same rock units, from rocks of overlapping age, the most shared fossil sites first.

PsittacosaurusArchaeoceratopsAuroraceratopsNanshiungosaurusSuzhousaurusWuerhosaurus

Named by Dong and Russell 13

Genera whose naming authority includes the same surname. The authority has no initials, so different people who share a surname can appear together.

AlxasaurusArchaeoceratopsArchaeornithomimusBellusaurusChungkingosaurusDaspletosaurusDatousaurusDromiceiomimusGongbusaurusNanshiungosaurusShunosaurusWuerhosaurusYangchuanosaurus

Credits

Where this page comes from

  • Paleobiology DatabaseCC BY 4.0 · fossil records, ages, classification
  • WikidataCC0 1.0 · names and identifiers
  • OmnisauraOmnisaura editorial · confidence levels and gaps
  • PaleoMAP PaleoCoastlines (Kocsis and Scotese 2021)CC BY 4.0 · ancient coastlines on the small map
  • Natural EarthPublic domain · today's coastlines

Pictures linked from this page are credited beside each one, with their own licences; the full list is in the JSON download.