''Cratonavis'' (meaning "Craton bird") is an extinct genus of pygostylian avialian from the

Early Cretaceous The Early Cretaceous (geochronology, geochronological name) or the Lower Cretaceous (chronostratigraphy, chronostratigraphic name) is the earlier or lower of the two major divisions of the Cretaceous. It is usually considered to stretch from 143.1 ...

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 ...

Liaoning Province ) , 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. The genus contains a single species, ''C. zhui'', known from a complete skeleton.

Discovery and naming

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 ...

specimen, IVPP V31106, was discovered in sediments of the

, dated to the

Aptian The Aptian is an age (geology), age in the geologic timescale or a stage (stratigraphy), stage in the stratigraphic column. It is a subdivision of the Early Cretaceous, Early or Lower Cretaceous epoch (geology), Epoch or series (stratigraphy), S ...

age of the early

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, near the Xiaotaizi village, (

Jianchang Jianchang () is a county of Huludao City in the southwest of Liaoning province, China. It is the largest division of Huludao, with an area of , and population of 450,000 in 2020, located in mountainous terrain west of that city, serviced by Chin ...

County) of

, northeastern China. This specimen consists of a complete,

articulated An articulated vehicle is a vehicle which has a permanent or semi-permanent coupling in its construction. This coupling works as a large pivot joint, allowing it to bend and turn more sharply. There are many kinds, from heavy equipment to buse ...

individual with preserved feathers. In 2023, Li Zhiheng, Wang Min, Thomas A. Stidham, and

Zhou Zhonghe Zhonghe Zhou (; born 19 January 1965 in Jiangdu, Jiangsu province) is a Chinese palaeontologist. He described the ancient bird '' Confuciusornis''.. Zhonghe graduated from Nanjing University and earned a Ph.D. in Biology in 1999 from the Univer ...

described ''Cratonavis zhui'', a new genus and species of jinguofortisid, based on these fossil remains. The generic name, "''Cratonavis''", combines a reference to the North China Craton with the

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

word "avis", meaning "bird". The

specific name Specific name may refer to: * in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules: * Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...

, "''zhui''", honors the Chinese geologist Zhu Rixiang, who has studied the destruction of the North China Craton.

Classification

Li ''et al''. (2023) recovered ''Cratonavis'' as a non-ornithothoracine pygostylian member of the Jinguofortisidae, as the

sister taxon In phylogenetics, a sister group or sister taxon, also called an adelphotaxon, comprises the closest relative(s) of another given unit in an evolutionary tree. Definition The expression is most easily illustrated by a cladogram: Taxon A and ...

to ''

Chongmingia ''Chongmingia'' is a genus of basal Avialae, avialan belonging to Pygostylia that lived during the Aptian. It was found in the Jiufotang Formation in Chaoyang, Liaoning, Chaoyang, China, and was described by Wang ''et al''., 2016. The name comes ...

''. Their results are shown in the

cladogram A cladogram (from Greek language, Greek ''clados'' "branch" and ''gramma'' "character") is a diagram used in cladistics to show relations among organisms. A cladogram is not, however, an Phylogenetic tree, evolutionary tree because it does not s ...

below:

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q115977757 Jinguofortisidae Bird genera Aptian birds Jiufotang Formation Fossil taxa described in 2023 Birds of Asia