Schizoouridae is an extinct family of euornitheantheropods that lived in what is now China during the Early Cretaceous. It was named in 2019 by Wang and colleagues, and contains all taxa more closely related to Mengciusornis dentatus and Schizooura lii than to or Jianchangornis microdonta. Members of the family possessed several features that are rarely found in euornitheans, but are more typical of enantiornitheans and more basal groups. These include a robust furcula with a prominent hypocleidium, and (in Mengciusornis) teeth at the tip of the premaxilla.[1][2]
Classification[]
The cladogram below follows Wang et al. (2019):[2]
^Brocklehurst, N.; Field, D. J. (2021). "Macroevolutionary dynamics of dentition in Mesozoic birds reveal no long-term selection towards tooth loss". iScience. 24 (3): 102243. doi:10.1016/j.isci.2021.102243.
^ abWang, M.; O’Connor, J. K.; Zhou, S.; Zhou, Z. (2019). "New toothed Early Cretaceous ornithuromorph bird reveals intraclade diversity in pattern of tooth loss". Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. 18 (8): 631–645. doi:10.1080/14772019.2019.1682696.
