Hongshanornithidae

Hongshanornithids
Temporal range: Early Cretaceous, 124.6–120Ma
↓
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Order: †Yanornithiformes
Family: †Hongshanornithidae
O'Connor, Gao & Chiappe, 2010
Type species
†Hongshanornis longicresta
Zhou & Zhang, 2005
Genera

†Hongshanornis
†Longicrusavis
†Parahongshanornis
†Tianyuornis

Hongshanornithidae is an extinct family of basal ornithuromorph birds from the Early Cretaceous of China. The family includes the genera Hongshanornis (the type genus) and Tianyuornis, from the Yixian Formation in Inner Mongolia, Longicrusavis, from the Yixian Formation of Liaoning Province, and Parahongshanornis from the Jiufotang Formation of Liaoning Province.[1][2][3] It is defined as a node-based clade including the last common ancestor of Hongshanornis longicresta and Longicrusavis houi plus all its descendants.[2]

Hongshanornithids were small, approximately the size of modern phoebes. Their legs are proportionally long in comparison to the wings, suggesting that they were aquatic wading birds. They most likely lacked beaks and had teeth in their jaws.[2]

Beginning in 2012, several studies began to find that the hongshanornithids were more closely related to songlingornithids (yanornithiformes) than to other early birds, making them part of the same clade.[4][4][5]

References

  1. ↑ Zhou, Z.; Zhang, F. (2005). "Discovery of an ornithurine bird and its implication for Early Cretaceous avian radiation". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 102 (52): 18998–19002. doi:10.1073/pnas.0507106102. PMC 1323170. PMID 16344487.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 O'Connor, J.K.; Gao, K.-Q.; Chiappe, L.M. (2010). "A new ornithuromorph (Aves: Ornithothoraces) bird from the Jehol Group indicative of higher-level diversity" (PDF). Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 30 (2): 311–321. doi:10.1080/02724631003617498.
  3. ↑ Li, Li; Jing-Qi Wang and Shi-Lin Hou (2011). "A new ornithurine bird (Hongshanornithidae) from the Jiufotang Formation of Chaoyang, Liaoning, China" (PDF). Vertebrata PalAsiatica 49 (2): 195–200.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 O'Connor, J.K. and Zhou Z. (2012). "A redescription of Chaoyangia beishanensis (Aves) and a comprehensive phylogeny of Mesozoic birds." Journal of Systematic Palaeontology, (advance online publication). doi:10.1080/14772019.2012.690455
  5. ↑ Zhou, S.; Zhou, Z.; O'Connor, J. (2013). "A new piscivorous ornithuromorph from the Jehol Biota". Historical Biology: 1. doi:10.1080/08912963.2013.819504.