| Zhongjianornis Temporal range: Early Cretaceous, 120 Ma |
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|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Apomorphy: | Avebrevicauda |
| Genus: | †Zhongjianornis |
| Species: | †Z. yangi Zhou, Zhang & Li, 2010 |
Zhongjianornis is a genus of long-beaked, pigeon-sized bird from the early Cretaceous period of China. It is known from one fossil found at Jianchang, Liaoning Province, in rocks of the Jiufotang Formation. It is reported to be the most primitive (though not earliest) bird that completely lacks teeth, and one of the most basal birds known.
The holotype specimen is in the collection of the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology in Beijing, and the species Z. yangi is named for the IVPP's founder, Yang Zhongjian.[1] This specimen is catalogued under the accession number IVPP V15900. It consists of a complete skeleton, possibly only missing a few tail vertebrae.
Zhongjianornis was described by Zhou, Zhang and Li, in a paper published in January 2010 (though the paper had appeared on the Internet during 2009).[2] They found that Zhongjianornis is more primitive than Confuciusornis, and that it predates the split between ornithurine and enantiornithine birds. The authors also reported that Zhongjianornis shares with very basal birds like Jeholornis, Sapeornis and Confuciusornis a highly expanded deltopectoral crest, and suggest that this was an early flight architecture that was replaced by the enlarged sternal keel system of more advanced birds.