''Bohaiornis'' 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 ...

of enantiornithean

dinosaur Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic Geological period, period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the #Evolutio ...

s. Fossils have been found from the

Lower Cretaceous Lower may refer to: * ''Lower'' (album), 2025 album by Benjamin Booker * Lower (surname) * Lower Township, New Jersey *Lower Receiver (firearms) * Lower Wick Gloucestershire, England See also * Nizhny {{Disambiguation ...

Jiufotang Formation The Jiufotang Formation () is an Early Cretaceous geological formation in Chaoyang, Liaoning which has yielded fossils of feathered dinosaurs, primitive birds, pterosaurs, and other organisms (see Jehol Biota). It is a member of the Jehol group. T ...

of western

Liaoning ) , image_skyline = , image_alt = , image_caption = Clockwise: Mukden Palace in Shenyang, Xinghai Square in Dalian, Dalian coast, Yalu River at Dandong , image_map = Liaoning in China (+all claims hatched).svg , ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. The only known

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

, ''Bohaiornis guoi'', was named by Dongyu Hu, Li Li, Lianhaim Hou and Xing Xu in

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

on the basis of a fully articulated and well-preserved skeleton of a sub-adult. This specimen, LPM (

Paleontological Museum) B00167, preserved two long, ribbon-like feathers attached to the tail rather than a fan of shorter pennaceous feathers. It was similar to the slightly older '' Eoenantiornis'', but much larger in size. ''Bohaiornis'' is the type species of Bohaiornithidae, a family of large predatory enantiornitheans from the Early Cretaceous.Wang M., Zhou Z.-H., O’Connor, J.K., and Zelenkov, N.V. (2014
A new diverse enantiornithine family (Bohaiornithidae fam. nov.) from the Lower Cretaceous of China with information from two new species
''Vertebrata PalAsiatica'', 52(1): 31-76. In 2014, a second, even larger specimen was described. This second specimen ( IVPP V17963) showed that the snout was relatively broad compared to other enantiornitheans, and also preserved several rock-like structures within the abdominal cavity. These were inferred to be large, rough-textured

gastrolith A gastrolith, also called a stomach stone or gizzard stone, is a rock held inside a gastrointestinal tract. Gastroliths in some species are retained in the muscular gizzard and used to grind food in animals lacking suitable grinding teeth. In ...

s. The presence of only a few large and rough gastroliths in birds and other dinosaurs usually indicates a mainly carnivorous diet, suggesting that ''B. guoi'' may have had a

raptorial In biology (specifically the anatomy of arthropods), the term ''raptorial'' implies much the same as ''predatory'' but most often refers to modifications of an arthropod leg, arthropod's foreleg that make it function for the grasping of prey whi ...

ecology. However, these structures were later found to be mineral concretions which formed after the animal had already died.

References

Bohaiornithidae Early Cretaceous dinosaurs of Asia Yixian fauna Fossil taxa described in 2011 {{Paleo-bird-stub