This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Explorornis" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR(September 2015) (Learn how and when to remove this message)
Explorornis ("discovered bird", from Latin explōrō "to discover" and Ancient Greek ornis (όρνις) "bird") is a genus of Mesozoic birds which lived during the mid-late Turonian stage, around 90 million years ago, in the Bissekty Formation of the Kyzyl Kum, in present-day Uzbekistan.[1]
E. walkeri (specimen PO 4825) was originally placed in Enantiornis, but the description of the type species E. nessovi (PO 4819), showed that it was not congeneric with the South American Enantiornis, which makes far more sense considering biogeography and age. The two species are named after famous paleontologists: Lev Alexandrovich Nesov (1947–1995) and Alick Donald Walker.
These were all smallish birds, maybe 15–20 cm long in life, except E. walkeri which was probably more than 25 cm long.
Since only the coracoids are known, the phylogenetic position of these taxa is somewhat unresolved. While they do resemble the more advanced Enantiornithes more than they do any other bird, confirmation of their placement with Euenantiornithes would still require more material.
^Panteleev, 1998. New species of enantiornithines (Aves: Enantiornithes) from the Upper Cretaceous of Central Kyzylkum. Russkii Ornitologicheskii Zhurnal. Ekspress-vy.pvsk 35: 3-15.
Explorornis ("discovered bird", from Latin explōrō "to discover" and Ancient Greek ornis (όρνις) "bird") is a genus of Mesozoic birds which lived during...
which has produced several species of early birds: Incolornis martini, Explorornis walkeri, Kizylkumavis cretacea, Kuszholia mengi, Lenesornis kaskarovi...
tarsometatarsus which shares some features with those of Enantiornithes Explorornis 1998 Bissekty Formation (Late Cretaceous, Turonian to Coniacian) Uzbekistan...
anachoretus A possible enantiornithine Explorornis E. nessovi An enantiornithine. Possible third and fourth species of Explorornis in the Bissekty Formation are...
pterosaur. Evgenavis O'Connor et al. 2014 Valid Early Cretaceous Russia Explorornis Panteleyev 1998 Valid Late Cretaceous Uzbekistan Falcatakely O'Connor...
while the former Enantiornis walkeri is now tentatively assigned to Explorornis. The reason for this is that these species were described when the diversity...
Global Information
