Shanweiniao cooperorum

You 1.8 m (5.9 ft) tall

Shanweiniao 5 m (16.4 ft) long

as long as 3 people standing fingertip to fingertip

Length: 5 m (16.4 ft)
Period: Early Cretaceous (122 Mya)
Place: China
Food: Herbivore
Clade: Longipterygidae

Shanweiniao reconstruction by Nobu Tamura (http://spinops.blogspot.com) — Reconstruction · Nobu Tamura (http://spinops.blogspot.com) (CC-BY)

Shanweiniao is a genus of long-snouted enantiornithean birds from Early Cretaceous China. One species is known, Shanweiniao cooperorum. There is one known fossil, a slab and counterslab. The fossil is in the collection of the Dalian Natural History Museum, and has accession number DNHM D1878/1 and DNHM1878/2. It was collected from the Lower Cretaceous Dawangzhengzi Beds, middle Yixian Formation, from Lingyuan in the Liaoning Province, China.

O’Connor et al. (2010) found that Shanweiniao is a close relative of Longipteryx, Longirostravis, and Rapaxavis, which together form a clade of long-beaked enantiornithean birds, the Longipterygidae.

What we know

Named by O'Connor et al., 2009.
Fossils found in China.

What we guess

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