Longirostravis hani Longirostravis

Longirostravis is a genus of enantiornithean birds which existed during the early Cretaceous period (around 125 million years ago) and is known from fossils found in the middle or upper Yixian Formation in Yixian County, People’s Republic of China. It is known from a single specimen housed in the collections of the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (specimen number IVPP V 11309) representing the type species Longirostravis hani.

Based on this specimen, L. hani appears to have been a “quail-sized” bird with a long, tapering and slightly curved snout tipped with five pairs of small, conical teeth. The long, narrow snout may have been used for mud probing, an ecology similar to modern oystercatchers. L. hani had an unusually-shaped breast bone (sternum) with a pair of three-pronged projections shaped somewhat like moose horns on either side.