First enantiornithine bird found from the Upper Cretaceous of Southern China

[PhysOrg]

Most known Enantiornithes from China are from the Jehol Group (131–120 million years ago), which has yielded numerous and exquisitely preserved Lower Cretaceous birds, and all known Enantiornithes are restricted to northern China. In an article published in the latest issue of Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 34, paleontologists from Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP), Chinese Academy of Sciences, reported a new Late Cretaceous avian taxon, Parvavis chuxiongensis, gen. et sp. nov., from Upper Cretaceous lake deposits in Yunnan Province, southern China. The new specimen represents both the first known bird from the Upper Cretaceous of China and the first Mesozoic bird from the southern China, and thus extends the temporal and geographic range of Mesozoic birds in China.

 

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