Alexornis

"Alex's bird" (probable honorific plus "bird")

• Alex- · Latinised personal name · probably honouring Alexander Wetmore (dedication not fully certain)
• ornis · Greek · bird

Alexornis combines a personal name element, "Alex", with the Greek word for "bird". As I recall, the "Alex" part honours the American ornithologist Alexander Wetmore, but I am not certain of the dedication. The animal was an early enantiornithine bird known from fragmentary remains from Baja California.

Named by

Brodkorb

Year named

1976

Period

Late Cretaceous

Stage

Campanian

Found in

La Bocana Roja Formation, Baja California, Mexico

Alexornis antecessor is the type species. It is an enantiornithine bird, so it counts as an avian dinosaur in the modern sense. It is known from fragmentary material. The exact age and the etymological dedication are given with moderate confidence.