Genus: Anchiornis XU, ZHAO, NORELL, SULLIVAN, HONE, ERICKSON, WANG, HAN & GUO, 2008
Etymology: Greek, anchi, "nearby" Greek, ornis, "bird"; referring to the animal's being very closley related to birds.

Species: huxleyi XU, ZHAO, NORELL, SULLIVAN, HONE, ERICKSON, WANG, HAN & GUO, 2008
Etymology: In honor of T. H. Huxley, who pioneered research into avian origins.

Holotype: IVPP V14378

Locality: Yaolugou locality, Jianchung County, western Liaoning Province, China.

Horizon:

Biostratigraphy:

Age: Oxfordian Stage, Lower Malm Epoch, Late Jurassic.

Material: Skeleton lacking the skull, anterior and middle cervical vertebrae, and posterior caudal vertebrae with faint feather impressions preserved on the slab and counterslab.

Wing of Anchiornis huxleyi modified from Longrich, et al., (2012).

A) Schematic of type material (after Xu, et al., 2008): B, C) New reconstruction; B) lateral view; C) dorsal view.

Referred material:

PEI, LI, MENG, NORELL & GAO, 2017

PKUP V1068, BMNHC PH804, BMNHC PH822 & BMNHC PH823: Skulls and skeletons.

Note: With feather impressions.

 

GUO, XU & JIA, 2018

Locality: Jianchang County, Liaoning Province, China.

Horizon: Tiaojishan Formation.

Biostratigraphy:

Age: Oxfordian Stage, Lower Malm Epoch, Late Jurassic.

Material:

41HIII 0404, 41HIII 0415: Nearly complete skulls and skeletons.

Note: With feather impressions.

 

HU, HOU, ZHANG & XU, 2009

Locality: Daxishan locality, Jianchang County, Liaoning Province, China.

Horizon: Tiaojishan Formation.

Biostratigraphy:

Age: Oxfordian Stage, Lower Malm Epoch, Late Jurassic.

Material:

LPM-B00169A, B: Nearly complete skull and fragmentary skeleton.

Anchiornis huxleyi referred specimen, LPM-B00169 (HU, HOU, ZHANG & XU, 2009); A) Skull and mandible in lateral view (Part); B) Skull and mandible in lateral view (Counterpart); C) Reconstruction of the skull, after Hu, et al, 2009.

Anchiornis huxleyi referred specimen, LPM-B00169 (after Hu et. al., 2009); A) Schematic of skeleton: B, C) reconstruction; B) lateral view; C) dorsal view.

Note: With feather impressions.

LI, GAO, VINTHER, SHAWKEY, CLARKE, ALBA, MENG, BRIGGS & PRUM, 2010

BMHNC PH828 (part and counterpart): Skull and nearly complete specimen.

Note: With feather impressions.

Illustration of the color patter after Li, et al., 2010.

Anchiornis huxleyi referred specimen, BMHNC PH828; A) Schematic of referred material (Li, et al., 2010): B, C) reconstruction; B) lateral view; C) dorsal view.

WANG, PITTMAN, ZHENG, KAYE, FALK, HARTMAN & XU, 2017

STM-127: Skeleton with skin impression on the wing.

STM-132: Skeleton with skin impression on the forewing.

STM-127: Skin impression on the pes and toes.

STM-118: Skin impression on the lower leg and pubis.

STM-114: Skin impression on the tail.

STM-144: Skin impression on the middle of the tail.

STM-133: Skin impression on the lower leg.

STM-144: Skin impression on its manus.

ZHENG, WANG, SULLIVAN, ZHANG, ZHANG, WANG, LI & XU, 2018

STM0-38, 179, 224, 227, 228, STMA0-4: Skulls and skeletons.

Note: All with gastric pellets with fish scles and bones.

Note: STM0-179 has a pellet loged in the oesophagus with 3 fragmentary lizards skeletons.