Hongshanornis longicresta

Hongshanornis is a genus of ornithuromorph birds known from early Cretaceous lake deposits of the Yixian Formation, Inner Mongolia, China. The holotype specimen, recovered in 2005, is currently held by the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology in Beijing. It was found in the Jianshangou fossil beds, dated to 124.6 million years ago. Three additional specimens have been reported, though only one of those has been definitively identified as belonging to Hongshanornis. This latter specimen was found in the Dawangzhangzi fossil beds, which are about 122 million years old.

Hongshanornis longicresta

Chiappe et al. · CC BY 3.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
HongshanornisPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Coelurosauria
Life habit
ground dwelling, solitaryPBDB, for Theropoda
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Theropoda
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Theropoda

Time the record covers

At most 6.2 million years on record.

Every occurrence read is dated to somewhere between 125.77 Mya and 119.57 Mya, and nothing in the dating separates them, so that window is what the record shows rather than a span.

Early Cretaceous — about 2 of 2 occurrencesEarly Cretaceous126–126 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences126–125 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences125–125 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences125–125 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences125–125 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences125–124 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences124–124 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences124–124 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences124–124 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences124–123 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences123–123 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences123–123 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences123–123 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences123–122 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences122–122 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences122–122 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences122–122 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences122–121 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences121–121 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences121–121 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences121–121 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences121–121 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences121–120 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences120–120 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences120–120 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences120–120 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences126.3 Mya119.1 Mya

2 occurrences of Hongshanornis longicresta on record, most of them in the Early Cretaceous. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

2 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

1 formation

  • Yixian Formation · Jehol GroupNei Mongol, Liaoning · CN · 125.77–119.57 Mya2
Yixian — 41.58°N, 119.33°EYixian — 41.37°N, 121.42°E

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The named rock units Hongshanornis longicresta has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed.

Hongshanornis longicresta and its relatives

Early Cretaceous

Where Hongshanornis longicresta and its relatives were recorded in the Early Cretaceous.

Found in the same rock

17 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 2 sites for Hongshanornis longicresta, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

2 references

Each of the 2 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. Each entry links to doi.org. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Hongshanornis longicresta

Credit
Chiappe et al.
Licence
CC BY 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Hongshanornis longicresta was found in MorphoSource and Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access was not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itHongshanornis through timeFormations of the Early CretaceousThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Zhou and Zhang 2005