Dinosaur genus
Zapsalis
Zapsalis is a dinosaur genus known from bones, found in rocks 85.7–66 million years old.
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- Named by
- Cope 1876
medium
medium: Only PBDB gives this; nothing contradicts it.Sources
Given by: Paleobiology Database. How it was chosen: PBDB leads.
- Described in
- O. C. Marsh (1877). Notice of new dinosaurian reptiles from the Jurassic formation. American Journal of Science and Arts 14: 514–516. Read it
low
low: PBDB gives this publication for the name, but its author or year differ from the naming authority (Cope 1876): it may be a later work, such as one that renamed or redefined the genus.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.
- Type species
- Zapsalis abradens
medium
medium: Only PBDB gives this; nothing contradicts it.Sources
Given by: Paleobiology Database. How it was chosen: PBDB leads.
- Lived
- Santonian to Maastrichtian, 85.7–66 million years ago
medium
medium: Only PBDB gives this; nothing contradicts it.Sources
Given by: Paleobiology Database. How it was chosen: PBDB leads.
- Family
- Dromaeosauridae
medium
medium: Only PBDB gives this; nothing contradicts it.Sources
Given by: Paleobiology Database. How it was chosen: PBDB leads.
- Parent group
- Dromaeosaurinae
medium
medium: Only PBDB gives this; nothing contradicts it.Sources
Given by: Paleobiology Database. How it was chosen: PBDB leads.
- Diet
- carnivore (inferred for its group)
medium
medium: Only PBDB gives this, and it infers it for the whole of Dromaeosauridae, 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)
low
low: PBDB infers this way of life for the whole of Dromaeosauridae; 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).
Gaps are answers
What isn't known yet
- Order: no source we use gives it yet.
- Age (confirmed evidence): no source we use gives it yet.
- Countries: no source we use gives it yet.
- Formations: 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.
- Held back: 7 fossil records left out: identified only tentatively (for example "cf.", "?" or the name in quotation marks).
- Resting on one source: 6 facts come from a single source with nothing against them (rated medium): authority (PBDB); type species (PBDB); 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…?
Can't tell. One of them has no fossil age recorded.
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 Zapsalis by where and when their fossils were found, by classification and by who named them. Select a name to open its page.
Same family: Dromaeosauridae 30
Other genera in Dromaeosauridae with a full profile.
Named by Cope 5
Genera whose naming authority includes the same surname. The authority has no initials, so different people who share a surname can appear together.
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
Pictures linked from this page are credited beside each one, with their own licences; the full list is in the JSON download.