''Longirostravis'' is a
genus of
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 cl ...
birds which existed during the early
Cretaceous period (around 125 million years ago
) and is known from
fossils found in the middle or upper
Yixian Formation in
Yixian County,
People's Republic of China. It is known from a single specimen housed in the collections of the
Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (specimen number IVPP V 11309) representing the
type species ''Longirostravis hani''.
Based on this specimen, ''L. hani'' appears to have been a "
quail-sized" bird with a long, tapering and slightly curved snout tipped with five pairs of small, conical teeth. The long, narrow snout may have been used for mud probing, an ecology similar to modern
oystercatchers. ''L. hani'' had an unusually-shaped breast bone (
sternum) with a pair of three-pronged projections shaped somewhat like
moose horns on either side. Feathers were preserved around the entire body but seem to have been absent on the feet and snout. The wing feathers were strongly asymmetrical, with the leading edge of the feather five times narrower than the trailing edge. The primary wing feathers were up to in length. As in some other enantiornitheans, the tail sported a single pair of long feathers.
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q6673988
Early Cretaceous birds of Asia
Longipterygids
Yixian fauna
Fossil taxa described in 2004