Songlingornis

Songlingornis Temporal range: Early Cretaceous, 120  Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Clade:	Dinosauria
Clade:	Saurischia
Clade:	Theropoda
Clade:	Avialae
Family:	† Songlingornithidae
Genus:	† Songlingornis Hou, 1997
Species:	†S. linghensis
Binomial name
†Songlingornis linghensis Hou, 1997

Songlingornis is an extinct genus of ornithuromorph dinosaurs from the Early Cretaceous. Its fossils have been found in the Jiufotang Formation of Liaoning (PRC). ^[1] The age of these rocks is somewhat disputed, but probably around the early Aptian, 125-120 million years ago. Only one species, Songlingornis linghensis, is known at present.

It was a close relative of Yanornis and together with this and Yixianornis may form a clade. ^[2] It is sometimes considered to be the same genus as Yanornis (which, described after Songlingornis, would then be merged into that taxon), ^[3] but this is not universally accepted. ^[4]

Footnotes

1. Hou (1997)
2. Mortimer (2004), Clarke et al. (2006)
3. Gong et al. (2004)
4. Mortimer (2004)

References

• Clarke, Julia A.; Zhou, Zhonghe & Zhang, Fucheng (2006): Insight into the evolution of avian flight from a new clade of Early Cretaceous ornithurines from China and the morphology of Yixianornis grabaui. Journal of Anatomy208 (3):287-308. doi : 10.1111/j.1469-7580.2006.00534.x PMID   16533313 PDF fulltext Electronic Appendix
• Gong, Enpu; Hou, Lianhai & Wang, Lixia (2004) Enantiornithine Bird with Diapsidian Skull and Its Dental Development in the Early Cretaceous in Liaoning, China. Acta Geologica Sinica78(1): 1–7.
• Hou (1997) Mesozoic Birds of China, Phoenix Valley Provincial Aviary, Taiwan: 153 pp.
• Mortimer, Michael (2004): The Theropod Database: Phylogeny of taxa. Retrieved 2013-MAR-02.