#theouterrim

By José Carlos Cortés on @quetzalcuetzpalin-art​

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Name: Eopengornis martini

Name Meaning: Dawn Peng Bird

First Described: 2014

Described By: Wang et al. 

Classification: Dinosauria, Theropoda, Neotheropoda, Averostra, Tetanurae, Orionides, Avetheropoda, Coelurosauria, Tyrannoraptora, Maniraptoriformes, Maniraptora, Pennaraptora, Paraves, Eumaniraptora, Averaptora, Avialae, Euavialae, Avebrevicauda, Pygostylia, Ornithothoraces, Enantiornithes

Eopengornis is an Opposite Bird from the Huajiying Formation of China, living about 130 million years ago in the Hauterivian age of the Early Cretaceous. It is known from an almost complete skeleton from a subadult, which also preserves feather impressions. It had quite a few small, curved and tapered teeth in its jaws, and a long hallux. It was a medium to large sized Enantiornithine, and it also had two long ribbon-like feathers extending from the tail like some other Enantiornithines, which were probably used for display between members of the species. It had a tapered snout, and longer legs than its proposed relatives such as Pengornis. It was also a fairly early evolved Enantiornithine, indicating that certain features shared by Enantiornithes and Euornithes (such a lost part of the foot) was lost independently in both groups. 

Source:

Wang, X., J. K. O’Connor, X. Zheng, M. Wang, H. Hu, Z. Hou. 2014. Insights into the evolution of rachis dominated tail feathers from a new basal enantiornithine (Aves: Ornithothoraces). Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 113: 805 - 819.