There is uncertainty about the age of the Daohugou Beds in which this fossil was found. Various papers have placed the fossils here anywhere from the Middle Jurassic (169 million years ago) to the Lower Cretaceous (122 ma). The age of this formation has implications for the relationship between similar dinosaurs, as well as for the origin of birds in general. A Middle Jurassic age would mean that the bird-like dinosaurs in the Daohugou beds are older than the 'first bird', "Archaeopteryx", which was late Jurassic in age. Until this question is decided, the significance of "Epidexipteryx" (and other early dinobirds from that area) is not clear.