Jeholornis | EPFL Graph Search

Are you an EPFL student looking for a semester project?

Work with us on data science and visualisation projects, and deploy your project as an app on top of GraphSearch.

Jeholornis (meaning "Jehol bird") is a genus of avialans that lived between approximately 122 and 120 million years ago during the early Cretaceous Period in China. Fossil Jeholornis were first discovered in the Jiufotang Formation in Hebei Province, China (in what was previously Rehe Province, also known as Jehol—hence the name) and additional specimens have been found in the older Yixian Formation. Jeholornis had long tails and few small teeth, and were approximately the size of turkeys, making them among the largest avialans known until the Late Cretaceous. Their diet included seeds of cycads, Ginkgo or similar plants. Jeholornis were relatively large, basal avialans, with a maximum adult length of up to 75 cm (2.5 ft) and an estimated weight of 2.27-9.1 kg (5-20 lbs). Another estimation listed it at 85 cm (2.6 ft) and 780 gr (1.72 lbs). Their skulls were short and high, similar to other basal avialans like Epidexipteryx and to early oviraptorosaurs like Incisivosaurus. The lower jaws were short, stout, and curved downward, possibly an adaptation for eating seeds. Jeholornis prima lacked teeth in their upper jaws, and had only three small teeth in their lower jaws, while J. palmapenis had a few teeth in the middle of the upper jaw (maxilla) but none in the front (premaxilla). The upper teeth of J. palmapenis seem to have been angled slightly forward as in some other basal avialans. The teeth in all three species were small, blunt and peg-like with no serrations. Their arms were robust and longer than the legs, with relatively well-developed shoulder girdles indicating strong wing musculature. The wishbone (furcula) was U-shaped in J. prima and J. palmapenis but not in J. curvipes. Their fingers were short compared to those of Archaeopteryx and also more robust. The lower legs were not particularly long, indicating that these animals were not specialized runners. The first toe, or hallux, which is reversed in modern birds and used to perch in trees, was only partially reversed in both Jeholornis species, pointing inward and slightly backward.

About this result

This page is automatically generated and may contain information that is not correct, complete, up-to-date, or relevant to your search query. The same applies to every other page on this website. Please make sure to verify the information with EPFL's official sources.

Related concepts (6)

Caudipteryx

Caudipteryx (which means "tail feather") is a genus of peacock-sized theropod dinosaurs that lived in the Barremian age of the early Cretaceous (about 124.6 million years ago). They were feathered and extremely birdlike in their overall appearance, to the point that some paleontologists think it was a bird. Two species have been described: C. zoui (the type species), in 1998, and C. dongi, in 2000. Caudipteryx fossils were first discovered in the Yixian Formation of the Sihetun area of Liaoning Province, northeastern China in 1997.

Enantiornithes

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 clawed fingers on each wing, but otherwise looked much like modern birds externally. Over eighty species of Enantiornithes have been named, but some names represent only single bones, so it is likely that not all are valid.

Microraptor

Microraptor (Greek, μικρός, mīkros: "small"; Latin, raptor: "one who seizes") is a genus of small, four-winged dromaeosaurid dinosaurs. Numerous well-preserved fossil specimens have been recovered from Liaoning, China. They date from the early Cretaceous Jiufotang Formation (Aptian stage), 125 to 120 million years ago. Three species have been named (M. zhaoianus, M. gui, and M. hanqingi), though further study has suggested that all of them represent variation in a single species, which is properly called M.