A new, three-dimensionally preserved enantiornithine bird (Aves: Ornithothoraces) from Gansu Province, north-western China

作者：Ji, Shu-An; Atterholt, Jessie^*; O'Connor, Jingmai K.; Lamanna, Matthew C.; Harris, Jerald D.; Li, Da-Qing; You, Hai-Lu; Dodson, Peter

来源：Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2011, 162(1): 201-219.

DOI：10.1111/j.1096-3642.2010.00671.x

• anatomy
• Aptian
• Changma Basin
• diversity
• Early Cretaceous
• Enantiornithes
• evolution
• phylogeny
• Qiliania graffini gen. et sp nov.
• Xiagou Formation

In recent years, the Lower Cretaceous (Aptian) Xiagou Formation has yielded approximately 100 avian partial skeletons, many with soft-tissue traces, from sites in the Changma Basin of Gansu Province, north-western China. The most abundant taxon amongst these is the ornithuromorph Gansus yumenensis, but enantiornithines have also been identified in the sample. Here we describe two incomplete, semi-articulated appendicular skeletons, the first consisting of a partial left pelvic girdle and complete pelvic limb, and the second comprised of a nearly complete right pelvic limb. Both specimens bear characteristics diagnostic of Enantiornithes, and are referred to a new taxon, Qiliania graffini gen. et sp. nov. The exceptional, three-dimensional preservation of these specimens (compared to the crushed, nearly two-dimensional condition of most other Early Cretaceous avian fossils) reveals new information regarding enantiornithine anatomy, evolution, and diversity.

• 出版日期2011-5
• 单位甘肃地质博物馆; 中国地质科学院