Alexornis

taxobox
name="Alexornis"
status = Fossil
fossil_range = Late Cretaceous
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Aves
subclassis = Enantiornithes
superordo = Euenantiornithes
ordo = Alexornithiformes (disputed)
familia = Alexornithidae (disputed)
genus = "Alexornis"
genus_authority = Brodkorb, 1976
species = "A. antecedens"
binomial = "Alexornis antecedens"
binomial_authority = Brodkorb, 1976
synonyms ="Axelornis" (a common "lapsus")

"Alexornis" is a genus of enantiornithine bird from the Late Cretaceous (Campanian, 84-71 mya) of southwestern North America. The type and only species is "Alexornis antecedens" [Etymology: "Wetmore's preceding bird"; "Alexornis" from the surname of ornithologist Alexander Wetmore + Ancient Greek "ornis", "bird". "antecedens", Latin for "preceding".] .

Fragmentary remains containing postcranial elements have been found in the Boca Roja Formation in Baja California state, Mexico. It was originally described as an early modern bird and a possible ancestor of the orders Coraciiformes and Piciformes. Subsequent analysis showed that it was an enantiornithine. It is sometimes united in a distinct order and family (Alexornithiformes and Alexornithidae, respectively) with the Central Asian genera "Kizylkumavis" and "Sazavis", but this is not usually considered correct and the relationship of these birds - which may or may not form a close-knit group - to other Enantiornithes is unresolved.

References

* Brodkorb, Pierce (1976): Discovery of a Cretaceous bird, apparently ancestral to the orders Coraciiformes and Piciformes (Aves: Carinatae). "Smithsonian Contributions to Paleobiology" 27: 67-73. [http://www.sil.si.edu/smithsoniancontributions/Paleobiology/pdf_hi/SCtP-0027.pdf PDF fulltext (File size 70MB!)]

* Chiappe, Luis M. (1991): Cretaceous birds of Latin America. "Cretaceous Research" 12(1): 55-63. DOI|10.1016/0195-6671(91)90027-A (HTML abstract)

Footnotes