A New Species of Cathayornis from the Lower Cretaceous of Inner Mongolia, China and Its Stratigraphic Significance

作者：Li Jianjun; Li Zhiheng; Zhang Yuguang; Zhou Zhonghe; Bai Zhiqiang; Zhang Lifu; Ba Tuya

来源：Acta Geologica Sinica (English Edition), 2008, 82(6): 1115-1123.

• Cathayornis
• stratigraphy
• Lower Cretaceous
• Otog Banner
• Inner Mongolia

An incomplete postcranial avian skeleton is described from the Lower Cretaceous Jingchuan Formation of Otog Banner of western Inner Mongolia and referred to a new species of Cathayornis, C. chabuensis sp. nov. This is the first report of a Cathayornis from outside Liaoning Province. The new discovery indicates that Cathayornis coexisted with Otogornis genghisi, and a more detailed comparison between these two enantiornithine genera shows that Otogornis represents a more primitive genus than Cathayornis. Our analyses further indicate that Cathayornis is an arboreal bird. The discovery of a Cathayornis from this region also confirms that the avian fossil-bearing Jingchuan Formation is comparable to the Jiufotang Formation of the upper Jehol Group in western Liaoning, and should be referred to the middle-late Early Cretaceous.

• 出版日期2008-12
• 单位中国科学院古脊椎动物与古人类研究所; 北京大学; 北京自然博物馆; 中国地质博物馆