Songlingornithidae is a
family
Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...
of basal
euornitheans from the
Early Cretaceous of
China. All known specimens come from the
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 ...
and 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 exq ...
, dating to the early
Barremian
The Barremian is an age in the geologic timescale (or a chronostratigraphic stage) between 129.4 ± 1.5 Ma (million years ago) and 121.4 ± 1.0 Ma). It is a subdivision of the Early Cretaceous Epoch (or Lower Cretaceous Series). It is precede ...
and
Aptian ages, 125–120 million years ago.
The family Songlingornithidae was first named by Hou in 1997 to contain the type genus, ''
Songlingornis
''Songlingornis'' is a prehistoric bird genus from the Early Cretaceous. Its fossils have been found in the Jiufotang Formation of Liaoning (PRC). The age of these rocks is somewhat disputed, but probably around the early Aptian, 125-120 milli ...
''.
[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
''Chaoyangia'' is an extinct genus of euornithean birds, containing the single species ''Chaoyangia beishanensis''. This species is known from a single fossil specimen consisting of a partial skeleton including vertebra, ribs, hips, and upper l ...
''. However, subsequent studies found that ''Chaoyangia'' was probably not closely related to ''Songlingornis''. Instead, ''Songlingornis'' was found to be closely related to another group which had been given the name Yanornithidae—the name Songlingornithidae, having been named first, took precedence.
[O'Connor, J.K. and Zhou Z. (2012). "A redescription of ''Chaoyangia beishanensis'' (Aves) and a comprehensive phylogeny of Mesozoic birds." ''Journal of Systematic Palaeontology'', (advance online publication). ] Some later studies have also placed the
hongshanornithids in this group.
Late Cretaceous
The Late Cretaceous (100.5–66 Ma) is the younger of two epochs into which the Cretaceous Period is divided in the geologic time scale. Rock strata from this epoch form the Upper Cretaceous Series. The Cretaceous is named after ''creta'', ...
Mongolian avialan '' Hollanda'' to be a member of the group as well.
Phylogeny
Below is a 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 ...
from Mayr (2017) showing the relationships between Songlingornithidae and other ornithuromorphs:
References
Early Cretaceous dinosaurs of Asia
Prehistoric dinosaur families
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