Mengciusornis
mung-CHYOO-SOR-nis /mʌŋˌtʃjuːˈsɔːrnɪs/
Accepted genus
Mencius bird
- Mengcius · Latinised Chinese · Mencius (Mengzi), the Chinese philosopher
- ornis · Greek · bird
The name combines the Latinised form of Mencius, the ancient Chinese philosopher, with the Greek word for "bird". It appears to echo Confuciusornis, the well-known early bird named for Confucius, to which this bird is related. I'm not fully certain of the naming rationale.
- Period
- Early Cretaceous
- Found in
- Hebei Province, China (Jehol Biota)
A small beaked, toothed(?) early bird, probably a confuciusornithiform, described from Early Cretaceous Jehol Biota deposits in northern China. Birds are living avian dinosaurs. I'm unsure of the author, year, exact formation and stage, so I left those blank, and the etymology and pronunciation should be verified against the original description.