Proornis

"Proornis" is an extinct genus of basal bird from the Early Cretaceous (Barremian, 130-125 mya?) of northernmost North Korea. Since it was never formally described in a peer - reviewed journal, the genus is considered a nomen nudum and thus not italicized. A single species Proornis coreae 1 is known.

Fossil remains of this animal, discovered in 1993 in Sinuiju series deposits at Sinuiju-si, consist of a skull, a few cervical vertebrae and a forelimb with feathers. It was originally thought to be a close relative of Archaeopteryx, but newer analyses suggests it is more closely related to Confuciusornis (Tweet 2007). Confuciusornis - like features include that the finger bones were proportionately shorter than the metacarpals, unlike in Archaeopteryx (Lee et al. 2001). Also, the first phalanx of digit III is much shorter than the remaining phalanges, and the claw of digit II is smaller than that of digit III.

References

• Lee, Yuong-Nam; Yu, Kang-Min & Wood, Craig B. (2001): A review of vertebrate faunas from the Gyeongsang Supergroup (Cretaceous) in South Korea. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 165(3): 357-373. doi:10.1016/S0031-0182(00)00171-1 (HTML abstract)

• Paek, I.S. & Kim, Y.N. (1996): Mesozoic era. In: Paek, R.J. (ed.): Geology of Korea. Publishing House, Pyongyang, DPRK.

• Tweet, Justin (2007): Thescelosaurus! page: Maniraptora. Version of 2007-MAR-29. Retrieved 2007-MAY-21.

Footnotes

1 Etymology: Proornis coreae, "Korean bird-forerunner"; Proornis, from Ancient Greek pro-, "before" and ornis, "bird". coreae, genitive form of Corea, Latinization of "Korea". is known.