Liaoningornis

Liaoning bird

• Liaoning · Chinese (place name) · Liaoning Province, China
• ornis · Greek · bird

The name means "Liaoning bird". It refers to Liaoning Province in northeastern China, where the fossil was found, plus the Greek word for bird. The type species is Liaoningornis longidigitrus.

Named by

Hou

Year named

1996

Period

Early Cretaceous

Found in

Yixian Formation, Liaoning Province, China

Liaoningornis is an early fossil bird. Birds are avian dinosaurs, so it counts as a dinosaur in the cladistic sense, but it is not a non-avian dinosaur. It is known from very limited material, and its exact position within early birds has been debated.