''Martinavis'' is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

enantiornithine The Enantiornithes, also known as enantiornithines or enantiornitheans in literature, are a group of extinct avialans ("birds" in the broad sense), the most abundant and diverse group known from the Mesozoic era. Almost all retained teeth and c ...

birds which existed in what is now southern France,

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

and

Salta Province Salta () is a Provinces of Argentina, province of Argentina, located in the northwest of the country. Neighboring provinces are from the east clockwise Formosa Province, Formosa, Chaco Province, Chaco, Santiago del Estero Province, Santiago del Es ...

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

during the late

Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 143.1 to 66 mya (unit), million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era (geology), Era, as well as the longest. At around 77.1 million years, it is the ...

period. It was named by Cyril A. Walker, Eric Buffetaut and Gareth J. Dyke in

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

, and the

type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the spe ...

is ''Martinavis cruzyensis''.

Description

''M. cruzyensis'' is known from the

holotype A holotype (Latin: ''holotypus'') is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of s ...

ACAP-M 1957, a complete uncrushed right

humerus The humerus (; : humeri) is a long bone in the arm that runs from the shoulder to the elbow. It connects the scapula and the two bones of the lower arm, the radius (bone), radius and ulna, and consists of three sections. The humeral upper extrem ...

, recovered from the Massecaps locality,

Cruzy Cruzy (; Languedocien: ''Crusi'') is a commune in the Hérault department in southern France. The mezzo-soprano Simone Couderc was born in Cruzy on 3 June 1911. Population See also *Communes of the Hérault department A commune is an ...

, which is in a

Campanian The Campanian is the fifth of six ages of the Late Cretaceous epoch on the geologic timescale of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS). In chronostratigraphy, it is the fifth of six stages in the Upper Cretaceous Series. Campa ...

Maastrichtian The Maastrichtian ( ) is, in the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS) geologic timescale, the latest age (geology), age (uppermost stage (stratigraphy), stage) of the Late Cretaceous epoch (geology), Epoch or Upper Cretaceous series (s ...

-stage deposits in the

Grès à Reptiles Formation Grès was a French haute couture fashion house founded by Madame Grès in 1942. Parfums Grès is the associated perfume house, which still exists, and is now based in Switzerland. History Germaine Émilie Krebs (1903–1993), known as Alix Ba ...

of France. This species reached in length, in hip height and in weight. A second species, ''M. vincei'' is known from the

PVL 4054, a complete left humerus and from the associated paratype PVL 4059, a distal end of left humerus, recovered from the El Brete locality (

age),

Lecho Formation The Lecho Formation is a geological Formation (geology), formation in the Salta Basin of the provinces Jujuy Province, Jujuy and Salta Province, Salta of northwestern Argentina. Its strata date back to the Maastrichtian, Early Maastrichtian, and i ...

. A possible third species is represented by the unnamed specimen KU-NM-37 from United States. In

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

, three additional species were named from the same location as ''M. vincei'': * ''M. minor'' is known from the

PVL 4046, a distally imperfect right humerus; * ''M. saltariensis'' is known from the

PVL 4025, an incomplete left humerus, lacking the median ridge; * ''M. whetstonei'' is known from the

PVL 4028, a distally imperfect left humerus. ''M. vincei'' is the largest of the El Brete taxa, approaching its huge (by enantiornithine standards),

sympatric In biology, two closely related species or populations are considered sympatric when they exist in the same geographic area and thus frequently encounter each other. An initially interbreeding population that splits into two or more distinct spe ...

and

coeval {{Short pages monitor