Chromeornis funkyi

"Chromeo bird"

You 1.8 m (5.9 ft) tall
Chromeornis 5 m (16.4 ft) long
as long as 3 people standing fingertip to fingertip
Length
5 m (16.4 ft)
Period
Early Cretaceous (120 Mya)
Place
China
Food
Herbivore
Clade
Longipterygidae

Chromeornis (; “Chromeo bird”) is an extinct genus of longipterygid enantiornithean bird known from the Early Cretaceous (Aptian age) Jiufotang Formation of China. The genus contains a single species, Chromeornis funkyi, known from most of an articulated skeleton preserved on a slab and counterslab. This specimen was found with a mass of gastroliths in the esophagus, but these were likely not the gizzard stones expected in the gizzard of some birds. Instead, they may have been the result of an illness, with the animal dying after attempting to regurgitate them.

What we know

  • Named by O'Connor et al., 2025.
  • Fossils found in China.

What we guess

The reconstruction notes for Chromeornis — soft tissue, color, behavior — haven't been written up yet. Only the recorded basics above are filled in so far.