Yatenavis
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''Yatenavis'' (meaning "stone bird") is an extinct genus of
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 ...
bird from the
Late Cretaceous The Late Cretaceous (100.5–66 Ma) is the more recent of two epochs into which the Cretaceous Period is divided in the geologic time scale. Rock strata from this epoch form the Upper Cretaceous Series. The Cretaceous is named after ''cre ...
Chorrillo Formation The Chorrillo Formation, also named as Chorillo Formation,Río Leona
at Fossilworks.org is ...
of Santa Cruz Province,
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 ...
. The genus contains a single species, ''Y. ieujensis'', known from a partial humerus.


Discovery and naming

The ''Yatenavis''
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, MPM-PV-23086, was discovered in sediments of the
Chorrillo Formation The Chorrillo Formation, also named as Chorillo Formation,Río Leona
at Fossilworks.org is ...
near Estancia La Anita, Calafate, Santa Cruz Province,
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 ...
. This specimen consists of the distal 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 ...
. In 2022, Herrera ''et al''. described ''Yatenavis ieujensis'', a new genus and species of enantiornithine, based on these fossil remains. The generic name, "''Yatenavis''", combines the
Aonikenk Tehuelche (''Aoniken, Inaquen, Gunua-Kena, Gununa-Kena'') is one of the Chonan languages of Patagonia. Its speakers, the Tehuelche people, were nomadic hunters who occupied territory in present-day Chile, north of Tierra del Fuego and south of th ...
word for "stone" 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 ...
, "''ieujensis''", is derived from "ieuj", the Aonikenk word for "snow". ''Yatenavis'' represents the eighth enantiornithine named from South America.


Description

Herrera ''et al''. (2022) concluded that ''Yatenavis '' would have had a body size comparable to
extant Extant or Least-concern species, least concern is the opposite of the word extinct. It may refer to: * Extant hereditary titles * Extant literature, surviving literature, such as ''Beowulf'', the oldest extant manuscript written in English * Exta ...
sparrows. The fossil material bears similar features to Late Cretaceous enantiornithines from various locations across the world, including
Madagascar Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...
,
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 ...
,
Patagonia Patagonia () is a geographical region that includes parts of Argentina and Chile at the southern end of South America. The region includes the southern section of the Andes mountain chain with lakes, fjords, temperate rainforests, and glaciers ...
, and
Central Asia Central Asia is a region of Asia consisting of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The countries as a group are also colloquially referred to as the "-stans" as all have names ending with the Persian language, Pers ...
.


Paleoecology

''Yatenavis'' represents the southernmost record of enantiornithines. As enantiornithines are uncommon in high-latitude and cold environments (which were more frequently inhabited by ornithurines), the discovery of ''Yatenavis'' in the Chorrillo Formation is surprising. ''Yatenavis'' coexisted with the ornithurine '' Kookne'' and a large indeterminate enantiornithine. Non-avian dinosaurs, including the
elasmarian Elasmaria is a clade of ornithopods known from Cretaceous deposits in the former Gondwana (South America, Antarctica, Australia, and possibly Africa) that contains many bipedal ornithopods that were previously considered "hypsilophodonts". Clas ...
ornithopod Ornithopoda () is a clade of ornithischian dinosaurs, called ornithopods (). They represent one of the most successful groups of herbivorous dinosaurs during the Cretaceous. The most primitive members of the group were bipedal and relatively sm ...
''
Isasicursor ''Isasicursor'' (meaning "Isasi's runner" after Marcelo Pablo Isasi) is a genus of elasmarian ornithopod from the Chorrillo Formation from Santa Cruz Province in Argentina. The type and only species is ''Isasicursor santacrucensis''. It was a co ...
'', the
titanosaurian Titanosaurs (or titanosaurians; members of the group Titanosauria) were a diverse group of Sauropoda, sauropod dinosaurs, including genera from all seven continents. The titanosaurs were the last surviving group of long-necked sauropods, with tax ...
'' Nullotitan'', and the megaraptorid ''
Maip ''Maip'' is a genus of large megaraptorid theropod dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) Chorrillo Formation of Santa Cruz, Argentina. The genus contains a single species, ''M. macrothorax'', known from an incomplete, disarticulated ...
'', have also been named from the
Chorrillo Formation The Chorrillo Formation, also named as Chorillo Formation,Río Leona
at Fossilworks.org is ...
.


References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q115725375 Enantiornithes Extinct birds of South America Prehistoric bird genera Maastrichtian life Fossil taxa described in 2022 Birds described in 2022