Sapeornis facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Sapeornis |
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| Fossil specimen, National Museum of Natural Science | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Genus: |
Sapeornis
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| Species: |
chaoyangensis
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| Synonyms | |
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Genus synonymy
Didactylornis Yuan, 2008
Shenshiornis Hu et al., 2010 Species synonymy
?Omnivoropteryx sinousaorum Czerkas & Ji, 2002
Sapeornis angustis Zhou & Zhang, 2009 Didactylornis jii Yuan, 2008 Shenshiornis primita Hu et al., 2010 |
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Sapeornis is a genus of primitive bird which lived during the Lower Cretaceous about 125–120 million years ago (mya). Only one species is known: Sapeornis chaoyangensis. The fossils are from the Jiufotang Formation and Yixian Formation rocks in the People's Republic of China. Several nearly complete skeletons have been found.
Sapeornis is named after SAPE, the Society of Avian Paleontology and Evolution, added to the Ancient Greek όρνις (ornis), meaning "bird". chaoyangensis is Latin for "from Chaoyang".
This animal was about 30–33 cm long. The skull has a handful of teeth in the upper jawtip only. A single tail feather has been found on one of the specimens. It may have been a glider or soarer rather than an active flier.
Images for kids
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Size of S. chaoyangensis compared with a human
See also
In Spanish: Sapeornis para niños
