Bellulornis ("beautiful bird") is an extinct genus of ornithuromorph avialan. It is known from a complete postcranial skeleton lacking the skull which was unearthed from the rocks of the Early Cretaceous-aged Jiufotang Formation in Liaoning Province, China. It was originally given the genus name Bellulia, meaning "beautiful", in reference to the fact that the skeleton was preserved in a pose reminiscent of a dancer.[1] However, it was discovered after publication that the genus Bellulia was preoccupied by an extant moth. The authors then amended the name to Bellulornis, adding the Ancient Greek suffix meaning "bird".[2]

References

  1. ^ Wang, Min; Zhou, Zhonghe; Zhou, Shuang (2016). "A new basal ornithuromorph bird (Aves: Ornithothoraces) from the Early Cretaceous of China with implication for morphology of early Ornithuromorpha". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 176: 207–223. doi:10.1111/zoj.12302.
  2. ^ Wang, Min; Zhou, Zhonghe; Zhou, Shuang (2016). "Renaming of Bellulia Wang, Zhou & Zhou, 2016". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 177 (3): 695. doi:10.1111/zoj.12397.
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