Yuornis
 | This article relies largely or entirely on a single source. (January 2022) |
| Yuornis | |
|---|---|
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| Skull diagram | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Clade: | Dinosauria |
| Clade: | Saurischia |
| Clade: | Theropoda |
| Clade: | Avialae |
| Clade: | †Enantiornithes |
| Genus: | †Yuornis Xu et al., 2021 |
| Species: | †Y. junchangi
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| Binomial name | |
| †Yuornis junchangi Xu et al., 2021
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Yuornis (meaning "Henan bird", after the one Chinese character abbreviation of Henan, 豫 (pinyin: Yù)) is an extinct genus of enantiornithine bird known from the Late Cretaceous of Henan, China. It contains one species, Yuornis junchangi, named after the late Lü Junchang.[1]
Description
The holotype specimen is remarkably complete for a Late Cretaceous enantiornithine, possessing a three dimensionally-preserved skull and partial skeleton. Unlike most enantiornithines, the skull of Yuornis was completely toothless and convergently similar to that of
supratemporal fenestra confluent with the orbit (eye socket), also like some modern birds. Unlike modern birds, the premaxilla makes up a smaller portion of the lower edge of the snout, while the quadratojugal is unusually large and complex.[1]
Classification
The
sister taxon to Gobipteryx, another toothless Late Cretaceous enantiornithean. This would by definition place Yuornis in the family Gobipterygidae. However, the traits supporting this relationship were all related to tooth loss, a condition which is known to have convergently evolved many times in Mesozoic bird lineages. As a result, the authors refrained from formally considering Yuornis a gobipterygid.[1]
References
- ^ S2CID 238748196.