Pengornis

Pengornis Temporal range: Early Cretaceous, 120Ma PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Clade:	Ornithothoraces
Subclass:	†Enantiornithes
Genus:	†Pengornis Zhou, Clarke, & Zhang, 2008
Species:	† P. houi
Binomial name
Pengornis houi Zhou, Clarke, & Zhang, 2008

Pengornis is the largest known enantiornithine bird from the Early Cretaceous of northeast China.

the name Pengornis derives from "Peng", which refers to a mythological bird from Chinese folklore, and "-ornis", which means bird in Greek.

Pengornis is known from a single fossil, described by Zhou et al. in 2008. This holotype is in the collection of the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology in Beijing China. Its accession number is IVPP V15336. It was collected from the Jiufotang Formation, at Dapingfang, Chaoyang, Liaoning China.

Pengornis shows characters of the humeral head, acromion, and anterior cervical vertebrae, that were previously known only in members of the Ornithurae. A phylogenetic analysis by Zhou et al. reduces to just three the number of characters that support enantiornithine monophyly . Thus, Pengornis supports the possibility that enantiornithines and Ornithurines may not be distinct clades.^[1]

(see Apsaravis)

References