Wang Xiaoli
The team of scientists who authored this initial study were led by Xu Xing and also included Zheng Xiaoting, Corwin Sullivan, Wang Xiaoli, Xing Lida, Wang Yan, Zhang Xiaomei, Jingmai O'Connor, Zheng Fucheng Zhang and Pan Yanhong. They named and described the type species "Yi qi". The generic name "Yi" means "wing" in Mandarin. The specific name "qi" means "strange". "Yi" is notable for having the shortest generic name of any dinosaur, containing only two letters. Its binomial name, "Yi qi", is also the shortest possible under articles 11.8.1 and 11.9.1 of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, at four letters. (It shares this distinction with the great evening bat "Ia io".)