*** Welcome to piglix ***

Shanweiniao

Shanweiniao
Temporal range: Early Cretaceous, 122 Ma
Shanweiniao cooperorum.jpg
Life restoration
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Enantiornithes
Family: Longipterygidae
Genus: Shanweiniao
O'Connor et al., 2009
Species: S. cooperorum
Binomial name
Shanweiniao cooperorum
O'Connor et al., 2009

Shanweiniao is a genus of long-snouted enantiornithine birds from Early Cretaceous China. One species is known, Shanweiniao cooperorum. There is one known fossil, a slab and counterslab. The fossil is in the collection of the Dalian Natural History Museum, and has accession number DNHM D1878/1 and DNHM1878/2. It was collected from the Lower Cretaceous Dawangzhngzi Bed, middle Yixian Formation, from Lingyuan in the Liaoning Province, China.

O'Connor et al. (2010) found that Shanweiniao is a close relative of Longipteryx, Longirostravis, and Rapaxavis, which together form a clade of long-beaked enantiornithine birds.

The genus name Shanweiniao means "fan-tailed bird" in Chinese. The authors report that Shanweiniao is the only known enantiornithine bird with a tail surface capable of generating lift, as in modern birds. They also report that only one other Mesozoic bird, Yixianornis grabaui, which is a basal ornithurine, has been reported with this fan - shaped tail feather morphology.

The species name, cooperorum, is after Carl and Lynn Cooper who donated funds to support the study of Mesozoic birds in China.


...
Wikipedia

...