Gretcheniao
grech-en-EE-ay-oh /ˌɡrɛtʃənˈiːeɪoʊ/
Accepted genus
Gretchen's bird
- Gretchen · English/German personal name · honorific personal name
- niao · Chinese · bird
The name combines a personal name, Gretchen, with the Chinese word "niǎo", meaning "bird". It therefore means roughly "Gretchen's bird". The name was chosen to honour a person named Gretchen, but I'm not certain who she is.
- Period
- Early Cretaceous
- Stage
- Aptian
- Found in
- Jiufotang Formation, Liaoning Province, China
A fossil bird (an ornithuromorph from the Jehol Biota). Birds are avian dinosaurs, so it counts as a dinosaur in the cladistic sense. It is not a non-avian dinosaur. Details on authorship, year and the honoree are omitted because I am not certain of them.