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Songlingornithidae
Songlingornithidae is a family of basal euornitheans from the Early Cretaceous of China. All known specimens come from the Jiufotang Formation and the Yixian Formation, dating to the early Barremian and Aptian ages, 125–120 million years ago. The family Songlingornithidae was first named by Hou in 1997 to contain the type genus, ''Songlingornis''.Hou, (1997). ''Mesozoic Birds of China''. Taiwan Provincial Feng Huang Ku Bird Park. Taiwan: Nan Tou. 228 pp. Clarke et al. (2006) was the first to find a close relationship between ''Songlingornis'' and the "yanornithids".Clarke, Zhou and Zhang, (2006). "Insight into the evolution of avian flight from a new clade of Early Cretaceous ornithurines from China and the morphology of ''Yixianornis grabaui''." ''Journal of Anatomy'', 208: 287-308. The name was originally coined to reflect a close relationship between the two supposedly similar (but poorly preserved) genera ''Songlingornis'' and ''Chaoyangia''. However, subsequent studies ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yanornis
''Yanornis'' () is an extinct genus of fish-eating Early Cretaceous birds. Two species have been described, both from Liaoning province, People's Republic of China, China: ''Yanornis martini'', based on several fossils found in the 120-million-year-old Jiufotang Formation at Chaoyang, Liaoning, Chaoyang, and ''Yanornis guozhangi'', from the 124-million-year-old Yixian Formation. Description ''Y. martini'' was the size of a chicken,Holtz, Thomas R. Jr. (2011) ''Dinosaurs: The Most Complete, Up-to-Date Encyclopedia for Dinosaur Lovers of All Ages,'Winter 2010 Appendix./ref> had a long skull with about 10 teeth in the upper jaw and 20 teeth in the lower jaw, and was both able to fly and walk well, having a well-developed U-shaped furcula (wishbone). The absence of the prefrontal bone and the non-diapsid skull allows ''Yanornis'' to be classified as an Ornithuromorpha, ornithuromorph, a member of a group of stem-birds which also includes the common ancestor of living birds. Similarl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Euornithean
Euornithes (from Greek ' meaning "true birds") is a natural group which includes the most recent common ancestor of all avialans closer to modern birds than to ''Sinornis''. Description Clarke ''et al''. (2006) found that the most primitive known euornithians (the Yanornithiformes) had a mosaic of advanced and primitive features. These species retained primitive features like gastralia and a pubic symphysis. They also showed the first fully modern pygostyles, and the type specimen of ''Yixianornis'' (IVPP 13631) preserves eight elongated rectrices (tail feathers) in a modern arrangement. No earlier pygostylians are known which preserve a fan of tail feathers of this sort; instead, they showed only paired plumes or a tuft of short feathers. Classification The name Euornithes has been used for a wide variety of avialan groups since it was first named by Edward Drinker Cope in 1889. It was first defined as a clade in 1998 by Paul Sereno, who made it the group of all animals closer t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hollanda Luceria
''Hollanda'' is a genus of small ground birds known from fossils found in the Barun Goyot Formation of Mongolia. Found at Khermeen Tsav, it dates from the late Cretaceous period (Campanian stage), about 75 million years ago. Known only from partial hind limbs, ''Hollanda'' has long legs with an unusual configuration of the toes. These indicate that it was a fast-running ground bird, possibly similar to the modern Roadrunner.Bell, A.K., Chiappe, L.M., Erickson, G.M., Suzuki, S., Watabe, M., Barsbold, R. and Tsogtbaatar, K. (2010). "Description and ecologic analysis of ''Hollanda luceria'', a Late Cretaceous bird from the Gobi Desert (Mongolia)." ''Cretaceous Research'', 31(1): 16-26. Its relationships are uncertain. Some studies have found that it was an relatively advanced bird, a member of the Ornithurae, related to birds like ''Ichthyornis''. Other studies have recovered it as a member of the primitive family Songlingornithidae. A more expansive study found it as an enantiornit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ornithuromorph
Euornithes (from Greek ' meaning "true birds") is a natural group which includes the most recent common ancestor of all avialans closer to modern birds than to ''Sinornis''. Description Clarke ''et al''. (2006) found that the most primitive known euornithians (the Yanornithiformes) had a mosaic of advanced and primitive features. These species retained primitive features like gastralia and a pubic symphysis. They also showed the first fully modern pygostyles, and the type specimen of ''Yixianornis'' (IVPP 13631) preserves eight elongated rectrices (tail feathers) in a modern arrangement. No earlier pygostylians are known which preserve a fan of tail feathers of this sort; instead, they showed only paired plumes or a tuft of short feathers. Classification The name Euornithes has been used for a wide variety of avialan groups since it was first named by Edward Drinker Cope in 1889. It was first defined as a clade in 1998 by Paul Sereno, who made it the group of all animals close ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ornithuromorpha
Euornithes (from Greek ' meaning "true birds") is a natural group which includes the most recent common ancestor of all avialans closer to modern birds than to ''Sinornis''. Description Clarke ''et al''. (2006) found that the most primitive known euornithians (the Yanornithiformes) had a mosaic of advanced and primitive features. These species retained primitive features like gastralia and a pubic symphysis. They also showed the first fully modern pygostyles, and the type specimen of ''Yixianornis'' (IVPP 13631) preserves eight elongated rectrices (tail feathers) in a modern arrangement. No earlier pygostylians are known which preserve a fan of tail feathers of this sort; instead, they showed only paired plumes or a tuft of short feathers. Classification The name Euornithes has been used for a wide variety of avialan groups since it was first named by Edward Drinker Cope in 1889. It was first defined as a clade in 1998 by Paul Sereno, who made it the group of all animals close ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hongshanornithidae
Hongshanornithidae is an extinct group of early ornithuromorph birds from the early Cretaceous period of China. It includes the genera '' Hongshanornis'' (the type genus) and '' Tianyuornis'' from the Yixian Formation of Inner Mongolia, ''Longicrusavis'' from the Yixian Formation of Liaoning Province, '' Parahongshanornis'' from the Jiufotang Formation of Liaoning Province, and '' Archaeornithura'', the oldest known member, from the Huajiying Formation of Hebei Province. Description Hongshanornithids were small, approximately the size of modern phoebes. Their legs are proportionally long in comparison to the wings, suggesting that they were aquatic wading birds. They most likely lacked beaks and had teeth in their jaws. Classification Hongshanornithidae was defined as a node-based clade including the last common ancestor of ''Hongshanornis longicresta'' and ''Longicrusavis houi'' plus all its descendants. Beginning in 2012, several studies began to find that the hongshano ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hongshanornithid
Hongshanornithidae is an extinct group of early ornithuromorph birds from the early Cretaceous period of China. It includes the genera '' Hongshanornis'' (the type genus) and '' Tianyuornis'' from the Yixian Formation of Inner Mongolia, ''Longicrusavis'' from the Yixian Formation of Liaoning Province, '' Parahongshanornis'' from the Jiufotang Formation of Liaoning Province, and '' Archaeornithura'', the oldest known member, from the Huajiying Formation of Hebei Province. Description Hongshanornithids were small, approximately the size of modern phoebes. Their legs are proportionally long in comparison to the wings, suggesting that they were aquatic wading birds. They most likely lacked beaks and had teeth in their jaws. Classification Hongshanornithidae was defined as a node-based clade including the last common ancestor of ''Hongshanornis longicresta'' and ''Longicrusavis houi'' plus all its descendants. Beginning in 2012, several studies began to find that the hongshano ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Early Cretaceous
The Early Cretaceous ( geochronological name) or the Lower Cretaceous (chronostratigraphic name), is the earlier or lower of the two major divisions of the Cretaceous. It is usually considered to stretch from 145 Ma to 100.5 Ma. Geology Proposals for the exact age of the Barremian-Aptian boundary ranged from 126 to 117 Ma until recently (as of 2019), but based on drillholes in Svalbard the defining early Aptian Oceanic Anoxic Event 1a (OAE1a) was carbon isotope dated to 123.1±0.3 Ma, limiting the possible range for the boundary to c. 122–121 Ma. There is a possible link between this anoxic event and a series of Early Cretaceous large igneous provinces (LIP). The Ontong Java-Manihiki-Hikurangi large igneous province, emplaced in the South Pacific at c. 120 Ma, is by far the largest LIP in Earth's history. The Ontong Java Plateau today covers an area of 1,860,000 km2. In the Indian Ocean another LIP began to form at c. 120 Ma, the Kerguelen P ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cladogram
A cladogram (from Greek ''clados'' "branch" and ''gramma'' "character") is a diagram used in cladistics to show relations among organisms. A cladogram is not, however, an evolutionary tree because it does not show how ancestors are related to descendants, nor does it show how much they have changed, so many differing evolutionary trees can be consistent with the same cladogram. A cladogram uses lines that branch off in different directions ending at a clade, a group of organisms with a last common ancestor. There are many shapes of cladograms but they all have lines that branch off from other lines. The lines can be traced back to where they branch off. These branching off points represent a hypothetical ancestor (not an actual entity) which can be inferred to exhibit the traits shared among the terminal taxa above it. This hypothetical ancestor might then provide clues about the order of evolution of various features, adaptation, and other evolutionary narratives about ance ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Archaeorhynchus
''Archaeorhynchus'' (meaning "ancient snout") is a genus of beaked avialan stem-birds from the early Cretaceous period. A fossil of its only known species, ''Archaeorhynchus spathula'', was first reported in 2005 by Zhou & Zhang to have been found in Yixian Formation rocks at Yixian, Liaoning province, China, showing a well-preserved and essentially complete skeleton. Two more complete specimens were found in Lower Cretaceous deposits of Jianchang, Liaoning, northeastern China, preserving new anatomical information. These deposits are 120 million years old, whereas the original specimen was 125 million years old, meaning the age range for this species is 125-120Ma. ''Archaeorhychus'' is one of the earliest avialans known to have had a beak, and represents one of the most basal ornithuromorph avialans. The fossils preserved feathers associated with the neck, head and tail regions. The fossils also show grooves and openings/ holes (foramina) on the tips of the upper and lower jaw ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Schizooura
''Schizooura'' is a genus of basal ornithuromorph bird known from the Early Cretaceous of Jianchang, western Liaoning, China. Its remains were discovered in Jiufotang Formation The Jiufotang Formation ( Chinese: 九佛堂组, pinyin: ''jiǔfótáng zǔ'') is an Early Cretaceous geological formation in Chaoyang, Liaoning which has yielded fossils of feathered dinosaurs, primitive birds, pterosaurs, and other organisms (see ... deposits, dated to 120 million years ago. References {{Taxonbar, from=Q543288 Early Cretaceous birds of Asia Fossil taxa described in 2012 Jiufotang fauna Prehistoric euornitheans ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vorona
''Vorona'' ( ; Malagasy for "bird", ''V. berivotrensis'', "from Berivotra") is a monotypic genus of prehistoric birds. It was described from fossils found in a Maevarano Formation quarry near the village of Berivotra, Mahajanga Province, Madagascar. The age of the fossilised specimen is Late Cretaceous, probably Maastrichtian (72.1-66.0 mya). ''V. berivotrensis'' is known from scattered remains, possibly from a single individual ( UA 8651 and FMNH PA715). The phylogenic affinity of ''Vorona'' is hard to determine due to the fragmentary nature of the remains, mainly because the fossil shows a mix of basal avian features as well as some that seem very derived. ''Vorona'' might be a primitive ornithuromorph. At least two studies recovered it as part of Enantiornithes, however. ''Vorona'' is sometimes confused with the dromaeosaur ''Rahonavis ostromi'', a fossil of which was found in the same location. This confusion has led to the common misconception that ''Vorona'' had a dei ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
