Wyleyia

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Wyleyia Fossil range: Early Cretaceous
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Aves Genus: Wyleyia Harrison & Walker, 1973 Species: Wyleyia valdensis
Binomial name
Wyleyia valdensis Harrison & Walker, 1973

Wyleyia is a prehistoric genus with a single species, W. valdensis, known from the Early Cretaceous of England. It has been named to honor J. F. Wyley, who found the imperfect humerus of the specimen in the Weald Clay deposits of Henfield, Sussex, England. Once believed by some to be from a non-avialan coelurosaur, it is now generally accepted as an early bird, although its exact systematic position is unresolved. It may be enantiornithine or an early neornithine palaeognathe.

[edit] References

• Harrison, C.J.O. & Walker, C.A. (1973): Wyleyia: a new bird humerus from the Lower Cretaceous of England. Palaeontology 16(4): 721-728. PDF fulltext