Qinornis paleocenica Qinornis

"Etymology TBD"

You 1.8 m (5.9 ft) tall
Qinornis 5 m (16.4 ft) long
3 people holding hands
Length
5 m (16.4 ft)
Period
Cretaceous (145–66 Mya)
Place
North America · China · Germany
Food
Herbivore
Clade
Dinosauria

Qinornis is a genus of extinct ornithuran from the early-mid-Paleocene epoch (late Danian age), about 61 million years ago. It is known from a single fossil specimen consisting of a partial hind limb and foot, which was found in Fangou Formation deposits in Luonan County, China.

The bones show uniquely primitive characteristics for its age, and its describer considered that it was either a juvenile of a modern bird group or, if an adult, the only known non-neornithine bird to have survived the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event. Unusually for such a recent bird, the bones of the foot are not completely fused to one another.

What we know

  • Named by Xue, 1995.
  • Fossils found in North America and China.