Gansus
| Gansus Temporal range: Early Cretaceous, | |
|---|---|
| Fossil specimen, Beijing Museum of Natural History. | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Clade: | Dinosauria |
| Clade: | Saurischia |
| Clade: | Theropoda |
| Clade: | Avialae |
| Clade: | Ornithuromorpha |
| Genus: | †Gansus Hou & Liu, 1984 |
| Type species | |
| †Gansus yumenensis Hou & Liu, 1984 | |
| Other species | |
| |
Gansus is a genus of aquatic birds that lived during the Aptian age of the Early Cretaceous (Aptian-Albian) period in what are now Gansu and Liaoning provinces, western China. The rock layers from which their fossils have been recovered are dated to 120 million years ago. It was first described in 1984 on the basis of an isolated left leg. It is the oldest-known member of the Ornithurae, the group which includes modern birds (Neornithes) and extinct related groups, such as Ichthyornis and Hesperornithes.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.