Rapaxavis

rapacious bird

• rapax · Latin · grasping, rapacious
• avis · Latin · bird

The name combines the Latin "rapax" (grasping or rapacious) with "avis" (bird), giving "rapacious bird". It alludes to the bird's long, strongly curved foot claws, which resemble those of modern birds of prey.

Named by

Morschhauser et al.

Year named

2009

Period

Early Cretaceous

Stage

Aptian

Found in

Jiufotang Formation, Liaoning Province, China

Rapaxavis was a small enantiornithine bird, an extinct group of early birds. Birds are avian dinosaurs, so it counts as a dinosaur in the modern phylogenetic sense. The type species is Rapaxavis pani. The claw-based reading of the name is my interpretation and I am not certain the authors stated it.