Yungavolucris

Yungas bird

• Yunga(s) · Quechua (via Spanish) · the Yungas, a region of forested eastern Andean slopes in northwestern Argentina
• volucris · Latin · bird, flying creature

The name combines "Yunga", referring to the Yungas region of northwestern Argentina where the fossil was found, with the Latin "volucris", meaning "bird". It literally means "Yungas bird". The type species is Yungavolucris brevipedalis.

Named by

Chiappe

Year named

1993

Period

Late Cretaceous

Stage

Maastrichtian

Found in

Lecho Formation, Salta Province, Argentina

An enantiornithine bird, a member of the extinct "opposite birds". Birds are technically avian dinosaurs, so it counts as a dinosaur in the cladistic sense, though it is not a non-avian dinosaur. It is known from fragmentary material, mainly a tarsometatarsus. The exact age of the Lecho Formation (Campanian to Maastrichtian) is somewhat uncertain.