Navaornis

Nava's bird

• Nava · Latinised surname · after William Nava, Brazilian paleontologist
• ornis · Greek · bird

The name combines the surname Nava with the Greek word for bird. It honours Brazilian paleontologist William Nava, who helped recover and study the fossil. Navaornis is known from a remarkably well-preserved, three-dimensional skull and partial skeleton, which gave unusual insight into early bird brain and inner-ear anatomy.

Named by

Chiappe et al.

Year named

2024

Period

Late Cretaceous

Found in

Brazil

An enantiornithine bird, so an avian dinosaur. Type species Navaornis hestiae. Exact formation, stage and author list are given here from memory and should be checked against the original description.