''Dingavis'' is an

extinct Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...

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 ...

ornithuromorph Euornithes (from Greek ' meaning "true birds") is a natural group which includes the most recent common ancestor of all avialans closer to modern birds than to the enantiornithines. This group was defined in the ''PhyloCode'' by Juan Benito and ...

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 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 ...

of present-day

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 ...

. It contains a single species, ''D. longimaxilla''.

Discovery and naming

At Sihedang in

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 , ...

a fossil skeleton was excavated. Catalogued as IVPP V20284, it was found in a layer of the

Yixian Formation The Yixian Formation (; formerly Romanization of Chinese, transcribed as Yihsien Formation or Yixiang Formation) is a geological formation in Jinzhou, Liaoning, People's Republic of China, that spans the Barremian stage of the Early Cretaceous. I ...

dating from 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 ...

. It consists of an almost complete and associated skeleton with skull, compressed on a plate. It preserves feather remains at the neck. About forty

gastroliths 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 oth ...

have been preserved. It represents an adult individual. The specimen was acquired by the

Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology The Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP; ) of People's Republic of China, China is a research institution and collections repository for fossils, including many dinosaur and pterosaur specimens (many from the Yixian For ...

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

. The piece was prepared by Li Dahang. In 2015 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 ...

''Dingavis longimaxilla'' was named and described by

Jingmai O'Connor Jingmai Kathleen O'Connor ( ''Zōu Jīngméi''; born August 26, 1983) is a paleontologist who works as a curator at the Field Museum in Chicago, Illinois. Biography O'Connor is from Pasadena, California. Her mother is a geologist. O'Connor says ...

, Wang Min and Hu Han. The generic name combines the name of

Ding Wenjiang Ding Wenjiang ( zh, c=丁文江, p=Dīng Wénjiāng; March 20, 1887 – January 5, 1936), courtesy name Zaijun, was a Chinese essayist, geologist, and writer active especially in the Republic of China. He was once a member of the Board of Direct ...

, the "Father of Chinese Geology", with a

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 ...

''avis'', "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 ...

is derived from the Latin ''longus'', "long", and ''

maxilla In vertebrates, the maxilla (: maxillae ) is the upper fixed (not fixed in Neopterygii) bone of the jaw formed from the fusion of two maxillary bones. In humans, the upper jaw includes the hard palate in the front of the mouth. The two maxil ...

''.

Description

''Juehuaornis'' has a long beak which equals 63 to 65% of the total skull length. The

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 are large, with a diameter of .

Classification

''Juehuaornis'' was placed in the Ornithuromorpha (redefined as a stem-based clade) in 2015. In 2016, it was suggested that ''Dingavis'' might be cogeneric to the closely related genera '' Changzuiornis'' and ''

Juehuaornis ''Juehuaornis'' is an extinct genus of ornithuromorph dinosaurs from the Early Cretaceous of present-day China. It contains a single species, ''J. zhangi''. Discovery and naming The holotype, SJG 00001, was found near Lingyuan in a layer of the ...

'' that might have been found in the same formation, in which case ''Juehuaornis'' would have priority.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q43631517 Euornithes Early Cretaceous dinosaurs of Asia Yixian fauna Fossil taxa described in 2015