Archaeorhynchus

ancient beak

• archaios · Greek · ancient
• rhynchos · Greek · beak, snout

The name combines the Greek words for "ancient" and "beak" (or snout). It refers to this early bird's toothless, beaked snout. The only named species, A. spathula, takes its name from the spatula-shaped tip of the upper beak.

Named by

Zhou and Zhang

Year named

2006

Period

Early Cretaceous

Found in

Jehol Biota, Liaoning Province, northeastern China

A basal beaked bird (an avialan theropod, so a dinosaur in the cladistic sense). It is known from many specimens and is one of the early members of the group Ornithuromorpha. Sources differ on the exact formation and stage of the specimens, so I have left the stage fields blank.