Cratoavis

Crato bird

• Crato · Place name (Portuguese) · the Crato Formation, named after the town of Crato in Ceará, Brazil
• avis · Latin · bird

The name combines "Crato", the Crato Formation in northeastern Brazil where the fossil was found, with the Latin word "avis", meaning bird. It therefore means "bird from Crato". The type species is Cratoavis cearensis, whose species name refers to the state of Ceará.

Named by

Carvalho et al.

Year named

2015

Period

Early Cretaceous

Stage

Aptian

Found in

Crato Formation (Araripe Basin), Ceará, Brazil

Cratoavis is an enantiornithine bird, an extinct group of early birds. Birds are avian dinosaurs, so it counts as a dinosaur in the modern sense. It is known for its exceptionally preserved feathers, including a pair of long tail feathers.