Sulcavis
- Yixian Formation ( People's Republic of China)
- Sulcavis geeorum O'Connor et al., 2013
Sulcavis ( " furrows bird" ) is an extinct genus of birds from the Lower Cretaceous of China. The only species of the genus, Sulcavis geeorum, was a medium-sized representatives of the dentate Enantiornithes and probably ate hard-shelled food. Sulcavis is known from a largely intact skeleton of the Yixian Formation, which is about 120 to 130 years old. The genus was first described in 2013 by a group of paleontologists to Jingmai K. O'Connor and is a rather derived Enantiornithe.
Features
Sulcavis geeorum was compared with other Enantiorniten, medium: With about 25 mm in length be tarsometatarsus was slightly lower than that of today's rock pigeons (Columba livia). The skull preserved in the lateral deposition measured from tip of beak to the back of the head about 43 mm. As with most Enantornithen the beak was occupied with teeth were curved in Sulcavis rearwardly and exhibited on the back of fine longitudinal grooves. Among the known Enantiornithen this is a unique feature of the genus. On the wings Sulcavis had a single claw.
Locality, fossil material and stratigraphy
The holotype and only find of Sulcavis (inventory number BMNH Ph- 000805 ) is a largely preserved and articulated skeleton that was found in northeast China's Yixian formation. The dating of this formation has not been established. Your age is limited to the period from Barremian to lower Aptian and thus estimated at 121.6 to 128.2 mya. The grooved teeth of Sulcavis geeorum provide possibly a specialization on hard-shelled food, such as insects or crustaceans, dar.
Ecology
The Yixian Formation holds remains of an extremely species-rich biome, which apparently consisted of many smaller ecosystems. The Paläoflora the formation consists of conifers, farms, mosses and possible early angiosperms. In addition to a variety of Enantiornithen also pterosaurs, dinosaurs bird Beck, Crocodylomorpha and crayfish have been found there. During the lifetime of Sulcavis the formation was approximately at the same latitude as today.
System
Elsornis
Eocatayornis
Rapaxavis
Shanweiniano
Longirostravis
Shengiornis
Sulcavis
Otogornis
Vescornis
Gobipteryx
Pengornis
Neuquenornis
Eoenantiornis
Eolalulavis
Liaoningornis
Cathayornis
Concornis
Sulcavis was first described in 2013 by geeorum Jingmai O'Connor, Yuguang Zhang, Luis Chiappe, Qingjin Meng, Li and Liu Di Quanguo as a new genus with a single species Sulcavis. The genus name is derived from the Latin for the sulcus " furrow " and avis for bird together. The specific epithet devoted the authors of the Gee family from the United States, which had financed the excavations in the Yixian Formation.
The analysis of the osteological characteristics of fine Sulcavis by O'Connor and colleagues using 245 variables showed that the species occupies a relatively derived position among the known Enantiornithes. It is part of a large radiation which includes the majority of known taxa. However, the relationships are not fully resolved in this clade in dichotomies, which also applies to Sulcavis.