Yuornis

Yuornis; Temporal range: Late Cretaceous 72–66 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Clade:	Dinosauria
Clade:	Saurischia
Clade:	Theropoda
Clade:	Avialae
Clade:	†Enantiornithes
Genus:	†Yuornis; Xu et al., 2021
Species:	†Y. junchangi
Binomial name
	†Yuornis junchangi; Xu et al., 2021

Yuornis (meaning "Henan bird", after the one Chinese character abbreviation of Henan, 豫 (pinyin: Yù)) is a genus of Late Cretaceous enantiornithine bird from Henan, China. It contains one species, Yuornis junchangi, named after the late Lü Junchang.^[1]

Description[]

The holotype specimen is remarkably complete for a Late Cretaceous enantiornithine, possessing an extremely well-preserved skull and wing bones. Unlike most enantiornithines, the skull of Yuornis was convergently similar to that of modern birds, being completely toothless.^[1]

Classification[]

Xu et al. found Yuornis to be sister to Gobipteryx, which would by definition place it in the family Gobipterygidae, but they refrained from assigning to the family.^[1]

References[]

^ ^a ^b ^c Xu, Li; Buffetaut, Eric; O’Connor, Jingmai; Zhang, Xingliao; Jia, Songhai; Zhang, Jiming; Chang, Huali; Tong, Haiyan (November 2021). "A new, remarkably preserved, enantiornithine bird from the Upper Cretaceous Qiupa Formation of Henan (central China) and convergent evolution between enantiornithines and modern birds". Geological Magazine. 158 (11): 2087–2094. doi:10.1017/S0016756821000807. ISSN 0016-7568. S2CID 238748196.

[Yuornis-1] Xu, Li; Buffetaut, Eric; O’Connor, Jingmai; Zhang, Xingliao; Jia, Songhai; Zhang, Jiming; Chang, Huali; Tong, Haiyan (November 2021). "A new, remarkably preserved, enantiornithine bird from the Upper Cretaceous Qiupa Formation of Henan (central China) and convergent evolution between enantiornithines and modern birds". Geological Magazine. 158 (11): 2087–2094. doi:10.1017/S0016756821000807. ISSN 0016-7568. S2CID 238748196.

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