Name:
Yuanchuavis
(Yuanchu bird).
Phonetic: Yu-an-chu-a-viss.
Named By: Min Wang, Jingmai K.O’Connor, Tao
Zhao, Yanhong Pan, Xiaoting Zheng, Xiaoli Wang &
Zhonghe Zhou - 2021.
Classification: Chordata, Dinosauria,
Theropoda, Avialae, Enantiornithes, Pengornithidae.
Species: Y. kompsosoura
(type).
Diet: Uncertain.
Size: Unavailable.
Known locations: China - Jiufotang Formation.
Time period: Early Cretaceous.
Fossil representation: Almost complete individual
preserved on a slab.
Yuanchuavis
is a genus of enantiornithine bird that lived in Asia during the early
Cretaceous. Yuanchuavis is confirmed to have
had two elongated
retrices (flight feathers) in the tail. Melanosome sampling of
the holotype fossil suggests that the elongated retrices would have
been black in life, while the remaining tail feathers either
iridescent or dark grey
Further reading
- An Early Cretaceous enantiornithine bird with a pintail. -
Current Biology. - Min Wang, Jingmai K.O’Connor, Tao Zhao,
Yanhong Pan, Xiaoting Zheng, Xiaoli Wang & Zhonghe Zhou
- 2021.