Shangyang graciles

Last updated

Shangyang
Temporal range: Early Cretaceous,
~125–120  Ma
O
S
D
C
P
T
J
K
Pg
N
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Clade: Dinosauria
Clade: Saurischia
Clade: Theropoda
Clade: Avialae
Clade: Enantiornithes
Genus: Shangyang
Wang & Zhou, 2019
Type species
Shangyang graciles
Wang & Zhou, 2019

Shangyang (after the mythical Chinese rainbird) is an extinct genus of enantiornithean birds that lived in the Early Cretaceous Jiufotang Formation of what is now the Liaoning Province of China. The type and only species is Shangyang graciles; the specific epithet is derived from the Latin word "gracilis", in reference to the slenderness of its limbs. [1]

In 2025, Li and colleagues briefly described IVPP V26899, a nearly complete specimen with extensive preserved integument, referrable to the genus Shangyang based on characters of the premaxillae, tibiotarsus, and sternum. However, they refrained from assigning it to S. graciles due to differences in the sternum and furcula. The researchers studied melanosomes preserved in a feather of the specimen's head crest. They interpreted the melanosomes as indicative of red to deep blue iridescent coloration in that region. [2]

See also

References

  1. Wang, Min; Zhou, Zhonghe (2019). "A new enantiornithine (Aves: Ornithothoraces) with completely fused premaxillae from the Early Cretaceous of China". Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. 17 (15): 1299–1312. Bibcode:2019JSPal..17.1299W. doi:10.1080/14772019.2018.1527403.
  2. Li, Z.; Hu, J.; Stidham, T. A.; Ye, M.; Wang, M.; Pan, Y.; Zhao, T.; Li, J.; Zhou, Z.; Clarke, J. A. (2025). "Iridescent structural coloration in a crested Cretaceous enantiornithine bird from Jehol Biota". eLife. doi: 10.7554/eLife.103628 .