Avimaia schweitzerae
- Length
- 5 m (16.4 ft)
- Period
- Early Cretaceous (115–110 Mya)
- Place
- China
- Food
- Herbivore
- Clade
- Dinosauria The clade containing all dinosaurs, terrestrial archosaurs with upright limbs.
Avimaia is a genus of fossil birds of the Enantiornithes clade that lived about 115 million years ago in Northwest China. The only known species is A. schweitzerae. The holotype fossil of the bird was found in the Xiagou Formation, and is noted as the first discovered fossil bird with an unlaid egg. Abnormalities, including egg binding in which the egg becomes stuck within the body of the bird causing death, were found in the egg suggesting that the preserved egg may have caused this bird’s demise. Egg binding is a serious and lethal condition that is fairly common in small birds undergoing stress.
What we know
- Named by Bailleul et al. 2019.
- Fossils found in China.
What we guess
The reconstruction notes for Avimaia — soft tissue, color, behavior — haven't been written up yet. Only the recorded basics above are filled in so far.