Asiahesperornis

Asian western bird (Asian Hesperornis)

• Asia · Latinised place name · Asia, the continent of the discovery
• hesperos · Greek · western, evening
• ornis · Greek · bird

The name combines "Asia", the continent where it was found, with Hesperornis, a related North American genus. Hesperornis means "western bird". The name therefore marks it as an Asian relative of Hesperornis.

Named by

Nessov and Prizemlin

Year named

1991

Period

Late Cretaceous

Found in

Kazakhstan

Asiahesperornis is a hesperornithiform, which was a flightless, toothed, foot-propelled diving seabird. Birds are avian dinosaurs, so it counts as a dinosaur only in the cladistic sense. It is not a non-avian dinosaur. The type species is A. bazhanovi. I am not certain of the exact stage, so I have left it out.