''Jibeinia'' is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

enantiornithean The Enantiornithes, also known as enantiornithines or enantiornitheans in literature, are a group of extinct avialans ("birds" in the broad sense), the most abundant and diverse group known from the Mesozoic era. Almost all retained teeth and cla ...

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...

. Only one species has been named, ''Jibeinia luanhera''. It is known from one

holotype A holotype is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of several ...

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...

found in the

Hebei Hebei or , (; alternately Hopeh) is a northern province of China. Hebei is China's sixth most populous province, with over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. The province is 96% Han Chinese, 3% Manchu, 0.8% Hui, an ...

province,

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. This fossil is now lost.Zhang, Fucheng., Ericson, Per G.P., Zhou, Zhonghe. (2004) "Description of a new enantiornithine bird from the Early Cretaceous of Hebei, northern China" ''Canadian Journal of Earth Science'' 41: 1097 - 1107 The holotype was, however, described and figured in detail by Hou (1997). In the summer of 1993, the holotype was presented to engineer Li Pai of the Hebei Provincial Office of Geology by a local farmer. Li, along with Hou Linhai and Zhou Zhonghe, investigated the quarry from which it came, at the locality of the Dongtuyao brick factory, Northern Hebei Province, Linjituxiang Village. They determined that it was collected from the

Yixian Formation The Yixian Formation (; formerly transcribed as Yihsien Formation) is a geological formation in Jinzhou, Liaoning, People's Republic of China, that spans the late Barremian and early Aptian stages of the Early Cretaceous. It is known for its ex ...

. However, later research into the geology of the area showed that it actually came from similarly aged beds of the

Huajiying Formation The Huajiying Formation is a geological formation in Hebei, People's Republic of China. Known for its fossils including feathered dinosaurs, the age of the formation is uncertain. It may represent an early portion of the Jehol Biota, dating to som ...

.Jin, F., Zhang, F.C., Li, Z.H., Zhang, J.Y., Li, C. and Zhou, Z.H. (2008). "On the horizon of ''Protopteryx'' and the early vertebrate fossil assemblages of the Jehol Biota." ''Chinese Science Bulletin'', 53(18): 2820-2827. ''J. luanhera'' was described from a nearly complete fossil. The fossil seems not to have ever received a catalogue number, nor to have been accessioned by a museum.Hou, Lianhai (1997) "Mesozoic Birds of China" Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Beijing, China. Published by the Phoenix Valley Provincial Aviary of Taiwan. In Chinese, translated by Will Downs, Bilby Research Center, Northern Arizona University, January, 2001. They are ancestors of the modern bird.

Possible synonyms

Zhang et al. described a new enantiornithean named ''

Vescornis ''Vescornis'' is a genus of enantiornithine bird. One species is named, ''V. hebeiensis''. The holotype fossil is in the collection of the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Paleontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Its catalog number is CAGS 1307 ...

'' in 2004. They noted that it was nearly exactly the same size as ''Jibeinia'', and collected from the same locality. They noted several morphological similarities to ''Jibeinia'', but that it also differed in some characters from the written description. They sought to compare the two specimens but learned from Dr. Hou in 2001 that the holotype ''Jibeinia'' had been lost, and existing casts were of too poor a quality to be decisive. Thus they conclude that it will be impossible to rule out the possibility that the two are the same species, and that ''

'' is a junior synonym, unless the holotype of ''Jibeinia'' is rediscovered.

Etymology

The genus name comes from a Latinized form of the Jíbei region and the character Jí, which refers to one of the nine geographical divisions of ancient China. The

specific name Specific name may refer to: * in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules: * Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...

is after the Luanhe River.

References

Bird genera Early Cretaceous birds of Asia Enantiornitheans Fossil taxa described in 1997 Prehistoric animals of China {{paleo-bird-stub