Nanantius facts for kids

Nanantius was a type of ancient bird that lived a very long time ago, during the Early Cretaceous period. This was about 100 to 112 million years ago! Its fossils have been found in Australia. Scientists believe Nanantius was an enantiornithean, which is a group of early birds that are now extinct.

Discovering Nanantius

The only known species of Nanantius is called Nanantius eos. It was first described by scientists in 1986. At first, scientists only had a few bones to study. These included a leg bone called a tibiotarsus and a neck bone (vertebra). These first bones were found at a place called Warra Station in Queensland, Australia.

Later, in 1997, more fossils were found in the same area. These new bones, including another neck bone and part of a left tibiotarsus, were also thought to belong to Nanantius.

However, there's a bit of a mystery! In 2009, a scientist named Jingmai O'Connor reported that the original leg bone and neck bone of Nanantius eos had been lost. This means Nanantius eos is one of the most incomplete ancient birds known from just a few pieces.

What Nanantius Was Like

Scientists think Nanantius eos was an enantiornithean. These were a common group of birds during the Cretaceous period, but they all died out during the big mass extinction that also wiped out the dinosaurs.

Nanantius eos was a small bird, probably about the size of a blackbird. Imagine a tiny seagull with claws on its wings! Its neck and head might have looked a bit like a small, feathered theropod dinosaur.

Scientists believe Nanantius probably lived near the coast of an ancient sea called the Eromanga Sea. It likely ate small fish and other sea creatures. One interesting clue about its diet came from a fossil of an ichthyosaur (a marine reptile). A leg bone similar to Nanantius' was found inside the ichthyosaur's stomach! This suggests that Nanantius might have been a seabird, or at least lived near the water where ichthyosaurs hunted.