Boluochia

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Boluochia
Temporal occurrence
Lower Cretaceous
115 to 110 million years
Locations

Chaoyang (Liaoning) , People's Republic of China
( Jiufotang Formation )

Systematics
Birds (aves)
Pygostylia
Ornithothoraces
Enantiornithes
Boluochia
Scientific name
Boluochia
Zhou , 1995
Art
  • Boluochia zhengi

Boluochia is a genus of primeval birds whose fossils were found in sedimentary rocks of the Jiufotang Formation near the city of Chaoyang in northeast China's Liaoning Province .

Boluochia zhengi lived in Lower Cretaceous (upper Aptian -unteres Albium ) and belonged to the group Enantiornithes to which the end of the Cretaceous extinct.

etymology

The generic name is derived from the place where it was found, the village of Boluochi 波羅 赤 near Chaoyang .

description

Boluochia zhengi was first described by Zhonghe Zhou in 1995. The only species and type species is an incomplete skeleton, which is kept under the number IVPP V9770 in Beijing in the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences . Boluochia is characterized by an upper jaw that ended in a toothless intermaxillary bone, the tip of which is bent downwards and resembles the beak of some birds of prey . The fact that the metatarsals of toes II to IV are of the same length and the joint rollers (trochleen) on which the toes are attached are at the same height indicates that the bird was able to grip branches well.

Other features of the hind leg are characteristic of the taxon : the joint role of the second metatarsal is wider than that of rays III and IV; At the outer end of the tibia , the outer joint body is almost as wide as the inner one, the two are only separated by a narrow furrow, and the front edge of the inner joint body is flat when viewed from the outside.

Systematics

Some paleontologists consider Boluochia zhengi to be a related species of Cathayornis (also called Sinornis ) and Eocathayornis - but this is not generally recognized as the cladistic position is still very uncertain. Michel Mortimer, author of the Theropod Database, sees Boluochia as being very close to Longipteryx . Zhou Zhonghe and Zhang Fucheng assign Boluochia to a separate family ( Boluochidae ) and order ( Boluochiformes ) within the enantiornithes.

literature

  • Zhonghe Zhou, Paul M. Barrett, Jason Hilton: An exceptionally preserved Lower Cretaceous ecosystem. In: Nature. 421, 2003, pp. 807-814, doi : 10.1038 / nature01420 .
  • Zhonghe Zhou: The origin and early evolution of birds: Discoveries, disputes, and perspectives from fossil evidence. In: Natural Sciences. 91, No. 10, 2004, pp. 455-471, doi : 10.1007 / s00114-004-0570-4 .

Individual evidence

  1. Zhonghe Zhou: Discovery of a new enantiornithine bird from the Early Cretaceous of Liaoning, China. In: Vertebrata PalAsiatica. 33, No. 2, 1995, pp. 99-113 (first description in Chinese).
  2. The Theropod Database ( Memento from January 22, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) (English)
  3. Michael Mortimer: Tyrannosauroids and dromaeosaurs. In: Dinosaur Mailing List. February 21, 2004.
  4. Zhou Zhonghe, Zhang Fucheng: Mesozoic birds of China - a synoptic review. In: Frontiers of Biology in China. 2, No. 1, 2007, pp. 1-14, doi : 10.1007 / s11515-007-0001-y .