Dinosaur genus

Zapsalis

Cope 1876

Zapsalis is a dinosaur genus known from bones, found in rocks 85.7–66 million years old.

Confidence labels

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At a glance

Data as of 12 October 2026

85.7–66 Ma (published)

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: 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
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medium: Only PBDB gives this; nothing contradicts it.
Sources
Given by: Paleobiology Database. How it was chosen: PBDB leads.
Parent group: Dromaeosaurinae
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medium: Only PBDB gives this; nothing contradicts it.
Sources
Given by: Paleobiology Database. How it was chosen: PBDB leads.
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

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 "?").
Resting on one source: 5 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).

Size, diet and behaviour aren't covered yet. Omnisaura leaves them out rather than guess.

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

Did Zapsalis 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.

Genera found in the same rock formations, from rocks of the same age.

None in Omnisaura yet.

Other genera in Dromaeosauridae with a full profile.

Credits

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