Grabauornis lingyuanensis
- Length
- 5 m (16.4 ft)
- Period
- Early Cretaceous (125 Mya)
- Place
- China
- Food
- Herbivore
- Clade
- Dinosauria The clade containing all dinosaurs, terrestrial archosaurs with upright limbs.
Grabauornis is an extinct genus of enantiornitheans from the Early Cretaceous of China.
The type species, Grabauornis lingyuanensis, was named and described in 2014 by Johan Dalsätt, Per Ericson and Zhou Zhonghe. The genus name combines a reference to Amadeus William Grabau with the Greek word ὄρνις, which means bird. The specific name refers to the place where it was found; the city of Lingyuan in the Lianoning province of China. Dalsät already referred to the descriptive article in 2012, before it was published, in his dissertation and the name Grabauornis was mentioned with it. However it was still an invalid nomen ex dissertatione. In addition, he explicitly stated that he did not want to perform naming acts, if they are not performed validly.
What we know
- Named by Dalsätt et al., 2014.
- Fossils found in China.
What we guess
The reconstruction notes for Grabauornis — soft tissue, color, behavior — haven't been written up yet. Only the recorded basics above are filled in so far.