Protodontopteryx is a genus of pelagornithid (pseudotooth bird) that lived in New Zealand roughly 62 million years ago, during the early Paleocene epoch.

[1] The holotype specimen of Protodontopteryx ruthae, CM 2018.124.8, was collected in the Canterbury Region of New Zealand on 11 November 2017 by Leigh Love.

Another specimen, CM 2018.124.9, was also referred to P. ruthae; it consists of the proximal end of a left humerus and distal sections of ?radius and ?ulna, and was collected from the Mt Ellen Member in 2016 by Love.

In 2019, Protodontopteryx ruthae was described by Gerald Mayr, Vanesa L. De Pietri, Leigh Love, Al Mannering, and Richard Paul Scofield.

This suggests Protodontopteryx was less pelagic than later pelagornithids (many living aequornithean seabirds have reduced external nostrils to protect the nasal cavity against saltwater).