Scansoriopteryx heilmanni (and its likely synonym Epidendrosaurus ninchengensis) was the first non-avian dinosaur found that had clear adaptations to an arboreal or semi-arboreal lifestyle–it is likely that they spent much of their time in trees.

At least two species, Yi and Ambopteryx, also had a long "styliform" bone growing from the wrist, which, along with the third finger, helped support a bat-like wing membrane used for gliding.

[4] Other features shared within the group include short and high skulls with down turned lower jaws and large front teeth, and long arms.

Some scientists, such as Paul Sereno, initially considered the concept redundant because the group was originally monotypic, containing only the single genus and species Scansoriopteryx heilmanni.

[9] Turner, Makovicky and Norell (2012) included only Epidexipteryx hui in their primary phylogenetic analysis, as a full-grown specimen of this species is known; regarding Scansoriopteryx/Epidendrosaurus, the authors were worried that including it in the primary analysis would be problematic, because it is only known from juvenile specimens, which "do not necessarily preserve all the adult morphology needed to accurately place a taxon phylogenetically" (Turner, Makovicky and Norell 2012, p. 89).

A separate exploratory analysis included Scansoriopteryx/Epidendrosaurus, which was recovered as a basal member of Avialae; the authors noted that it did not clade with Epidexipteryx, which stayed outside Eumaniraptora.

[10] A monophyletic Scansoriopterygidae was recovered by Godefroit et al. (2013); the authors found scansoriopterygids to be basalmost members of Paraves and the sister group to the clade containing Avialae and Deinonychosauria.

[16] The cladogram below follows the results of a phylogenetic study by Lefèvre et al., 2014:[17] †Oviraptorosauria †Scansoriopterygidae †Dromaeosauridae †Troodontidae Avialae Sorkin (2021) argues scansoriopterygids provide evidence that all pennaraptorans evolved from scansorial gliding ancestors.

[18] The fossil remains of Epidexipteryx, Scansoriopteryx and Yi were all recovered from the Tiaojishan Formation of northeastern China, and the former two were specifically found in the Daohugou Beds.

[19] The known scansoriopterygids of the Daohugou biota inhabited a humid, temperate forest made up of a variety of prehistoric trees including species of ginkgo and conifer.

[21][22] In the initial descriptions of the first two scansoriopterygid specimens, scientists studying these animals used several lines of evidence to argue that they were arboreal (tree-climbing), and the first known non-avian dinosaurs with clear climbing adaptations.

These adaptations for grasping ability in all four limbs, the authors argued, makes it likely that Scansoriopteryx spent a significant amount of time living in trees.

Scansoriopteryx has a better-preserved foot than the type of Epidendrosaurus, and the authors interpreted the hallux as reversed, the condition of a backward-pointing toe being widespread among modern tree-dwelling birds.

At least two species, Yi qi and Ambopteryx longibrachium, developed a patagium, supporting it with the elongated third finger as well as a unique styliform wrist bone akin to similar structures in flying squirrels, bats, pterosaurs and anomalures.