Junornis

"... bird" (the first element's meaning is not confirmed)

• ornis · Greek · bird

The second half of the name comes from the Greek "ornis", meaning "bird". Junornis is a small, early bird from China, and the type species is Junornis houi. I'm not certain what the first element, "Jun", refers to, so I haven't guessed.

Named by

Liu et al.

Year named

2017

Period

Early Cretaceous

Found in

Jiufotang Formation (Jehol Biota), Liaoning Province, northeastern China

Junornis is an early bird known from a single, nearly complete specimen. It is usually regarded as an enantiornithine, a group of Mesozoic birds. Birds are avian dinosaurs, so it counts as a dinosaur in the cladistic sense. The locality and the stage should be checked against the original description.