Changchengornis
Changchengornis | |
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Holotype counterplate, Geological Museum of China | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Clade: | Dinosauria |
Clade: | Saurischia |
Clade: | Theropoda |
Clade: | Avialae |
Clade: | †Confuciusornithiformes |
Family: | †Confuciusornithidae |
Genus: | †Changchengornis Ji, Chiappe & Ji, 1999 |
Species: | †C. hengdaoziensis
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Binomial name | |
†Changchengornis hengdaoziensis Ji, Chiappe & Ji, 1999
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Changchengornis is an extinct basal
The more pointed bill of Changchengornis might indicate a diet different from that of Confuciusornis. However, of Confuciusornis itself it is contested whether it were a fish eater, an omnivore, or a seed eater.
Discovery
In 1998
In 1999 Ji, Chiappe and Ji Qiang named the type species and only species of Changchengornis: Changchengornis hengdaoziensis. The generic name refers to the Great Wall of China, changcheng, and combines this with a Greek ὄρνις, ornis, "bird". The specific name refers to the geological Hengdaozi Member.[1]
The holotype specimen, GMV-2129, was found near the village of Jianshangou in Liaoning province, in the Jianshangou Beds of the Hengdaozi Member of the Yixian Formation, at the time seen as a separate Chaomidianzi Formation. It consists of a plate and counterplate, GMV-2129a/b, showing a largely complete and articulated but compressed and somewhat damaged skeleton. Much of the feathering has been preserved in an excellent state of preservation.
Description
Changchengornis resembles its relative Confuciusornis.[2] The type specimen is rather small, smaller than the smallest known specimens of Confuciusornis. Compared to the latter, Changchengornis had a beak that was more pointed, slightly hooked at the tip, proportionally shorter, and higher at the back.[3] The deltopectoral crest of the humerus is not pierced. GMV-2129 also shows two elongated, ribbon-like tail feathers as found in some specimens of Confuciusornis, that are often considered to be the males. Also, the fossil gives the impression of a head tuft or crest being present; if so, the outline of its head must have borne an uncanny resemblance to today's Tauraco or turacos in general but it could also be an artefact of conservation.
References
- ^ Ji Q., Chiappe, L. and Ji S., 1999, "A new Late Mesozoic confuciusornithid bird from China", Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 19(1): 1-7
- ^ Chiappe, Luis M., Shu-An, Ji, Qiang, Ji, Norell, Mark A., 1999, "Anatomy and systematics of the Confuciusornithidae (Theropoda:Aves) from the Late Mesozoic of northeastern China", Bulletin of the American museum of Natural History N°242 89 pp
- ^ Mortimer, Michael (2004): The Theropod Database: Phylogeny of taxa Archived May 16, 2013, at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2013-MAR-02.)