Xiangornis
genus of birds (fossil)
Xiangornis is an enantiornithean bird from the Lower Cretaceous Jiufotang Formation of Western Liaoning, China.
In 2005, a bird fossil was discovered near Dapingfang in Chaoyang, in Western Liaoning.
The type species Xiangornis shenmi was in 2012 named and described by Hu Dongyu, Xu Xing, Hou Lianhai and Corwin Sullivan. The generic name is derived from Chinese xiáng, 翔, 'free flight', and Greek ὄρνις, ornis, "bird". The specific name is the Chinese shén mì, 神 秘, "mysterious", referring to the enigmatic combination of traits.
The holotype, PMOL-AB00245, had been found in the Jiufotang Formation dating from the Aptian, about 120 million years old. It consists of the left wing and adjacent parts of the shoulder girdle and the sternum.
The public source identifies “Xiangornis” as genus of birds (fossil). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Xiangornis, genus and birds.
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The date and method of observation matter as much as the stated conclusion, especially where classification or consensus has changed. The source revision retrieved here is dated Apr 6, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q2915003. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2005 and 2012.
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This entry incorporates text from “Xiangornis” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.