Information AboutYanornis |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT YANORNIS | |
| cretaceous birds | |
| genera of birds | |
| songlingornithidae | |
''Yanornis'' was an Early Cretaceous Bird , thought to be closely related to the common ancestor of all modern birds. One species, '''''Yanornis martini''''', has been described from fossils found in the Jiufotang Formation in Western Liaoning , PRC , and as of 2004 five specimens were known (Zhou ''et al.'', 2002). It ate fish (Zhou ''et al.'', 2004). TAXONOMY In a 2006 study of early bird relationships, Clarke ''et al.'' found that ''Yanornis'', ''Yixianornis'', and ''Songlingornis'' formed a Monophyletic group (since ''Songlingornis'' was the first of these birds to be described, the faily containing this group is Songlingornithidae , within the order Yanornithiformes ). ''Yanornis'' gained notoriety when the front half of a fossil (originally named ''Archaeovolans'') was combined with the tail of a '' Microraptor '' to make the paleontological forgery " Archaeoraptor ". ''Archaeovolans'' was later found to be a synonym of ''Yanornis''. REFERENCES
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