The name of the family in 2007 was given by Alexander Kellner, Diogenes de Almeida Campos, Wang Xiaolin and Zhou Zhonge. The type species is Gegepterus changi . The name of the genus comes from the Manchu ge ge - the title of the princess, with reference to the graceful shape of the bones of the sample, and the Latinized Greek word πτερόν - “wing”. The species name is given in honor of the female paleontologist Chang Meemann, who for many years has established a warm relationship between Brazilian and Chinese authors [2] . In 2008, Wang corrected the epithet on changae [3] , but such changes are no longer permitted by the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature .
Gegepterus is known for two samples. The first is the holotype IVPP V 11981, found in 2001 in gray shales from the lower part of the reservoir (dated 125 million years), not far from Beipiao . It is a crushed and partially damaged skeleton of an almost adult individual and includes a skull with a lower jaw , cervical and sacral vertebrae, ribs , gastralia (“abdominal ribs”), the remains of the shoulder girdle and hind limbs, along with the remains of soft tissues of the skull, gastralia and orbits . Unfortunately, the structure is not visible on soft tissues, with the exception of one small section of unbranched fibers on the occipital part of the head. The jaws are very elongated, the muzzle is flat and concave at the apex, with a low and thin crest. The forehead slightly protrudes forward. The cervical vertebrae are elongated [2] .
The authors attributed it to the ctenochasmatid family, based on the presence of a long beak with many needle teeth, about 150 in total. This is the first undisputed discovery of ctenochasmatids in the Yixian formation, since the remains of other alleged members of this family did not preserve the jaws. In addition, this is the first find of a teenage individual among some known species [2] .
In 2011, a second, smaller sample, IVPP V 11972, which contained more known skeleton elements and a more extensive coating of hair-like structures, was described [4] .