''Liaoningornis'' (meaning "bird of Liaoning" in Greek) is a genus of bird from
Lower Cretaceous 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 ...
. It was collected from the dinosaur-bearing beds of the
Sihetun locality, of the
Yixian Formation, Shangyuan, near the city of
Beipiao
Beipiao () is a city in Chaoyang prefecture, Liaoning province, in Northeast China. It has a population of 202,807. The main industry in the area is coal mining. With vertical shafts of almost 1000m, these are some of the deepest coal mines in C ...
in
Liaoning
Liaoning () is a coastal province in Northeast China that is the smallest, southernmost, and most populous province in the region. With its capital at Shenyang, it is located on the northern shore of the Yellow Sea, and is the northernmost ...
province. The only known species is ''Liaoningornis longidigitris''. It was described by Linhai Hou in 1996 and 1997.
[Zhou, Zhonghe, Hou, Lianhai. (2002) "The Discovery and Study of mesozoic Birds in China" in "Mesozoic Birds: above the heads of dinosaurs". Chiappe and Witmer, ed. 2002, University of California Press]
The single fossil is an incomplete semi-articulated skeleton the size of a sparrow. It includes both feet, the right leg, the
sternum, part of the right arm, and fragmentary
coracoids and
pubes. Its accession number is IVPP11303. It is in the collection of the
Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology in
Beijing. It has advanced flight, perching, and respiratory adaptations like a long, deeply keeled
sternum, a pair of anterolateral processes on the sternum near the articulations with the
coracoids, fused, short,
metatarsals, and highly curved pedal claws indicating good perching ability. Hou et al. (1996) described the metatarsals as fused only
distal
Standard anatomical terms of location are used to unambiguously describe the anatomy of animals, including humans. The terms, typically derived from Latin or Greek roots, describe something in its standard anatomical position. This position pro ...
ly, but Zhou and Hou (2002) revised this analysis, finding that the metatarsus was fused
distal
Standard anatomical terms of location are used to unambiguously describe the anatomy of animals, including humans. The terms, typically derived from Latin or Greek roots, describe something in its standard anatomical position. This position pro ...
ly and
proximal
Standard anatomical terms of location are used to unambiguously describe the anatomy of animals, including humans. The terms, typically derived from Latin or Greek roots, describe something in its standard anatomical position. This position pro ...
ly, but not along most of the length.
[Hou, Lianhai, Shou, Zhonghe, Martin, Larry D., Feduccia, Alan (1996) "Early adaptive radiation of birds: evidence from fossils from northeastern China. "Science" 274:1164-1167.][Hou, Lianhai. (1996) The discovery of a Jurassic carinate bird in China. "Chinese Science Bulletin" 41(2):1861-1864]
Zhou and Hou in 2002 considered ''Liaoningornis'' to be the oldest known member of the
Ornithurae
Ornithurae (meaning "bird tails" in Greek) is a natural group which includes the common ancestor of ''Ichthyornis'', ''Hesperornis'', and all modern birds as well as all other descendants of that common ancestor.
Classification
Ernst Haeckel coi ...
. However, a 2012 re-analysis by
Jingmai O'Connor
Jingmai Kathleen O'Connor (; born August 26, 1983) is a paleontologist who works as a curator at the Field Museum.
Biography
O'Connor is from Pasadena, California. Her mother is a geologist. O'Connor says that while she was not a dinosaur enthu ...
showed that it was in fact an
enantiornithine
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 ...
similar to ''
Eoalulavis
''Eoalulavis'' (from the Ancient Greek: ''Éōs'', "dawn"; ''alula'', "bastard wing"; ''avis'', "bird") is a monotypic genus of enantiornithean bird that lived during the Barremian, in the Lower Cretaceous around 125 million years ago. The only ...
''.
[O’Connor, J.K. (2012). "A revised look at ''Liaoningornis longidigitris'' (Aves)." ''Vertebrata PalAsiatica'', 50(1): 25-37.]
References
External links
Specimen picture
{{Taxonbar, from=Q6540162
Early Cretaceous birds of Asia
Yixian fauna
Fossil taxa described in 1996
Enantiornitheans