Schizooura
Name:
Schizooura
(split tail).
Phonetic: Ske-soo-u-rah.
Named By: Shuang Zhou, Zhong-He Zhou and Jingmai
K. O’Connor - 2012.
Classification: Chordata, Aves, Euornithes.
Species: S. lii (type).
Diet: Uncertain.
Size: Unavailable.
Known locations: China, Liaoning province -
Jiufotang Formation.
Time period: Aptian of the Cretaceous.
Fossil representation: Almost complete individual
preserved flat on a slab, with feather impressions around the bones.
The Schizooura holotype came from Jiufotang Formation of China, which is one of the fossil bearing Rock Formations that the more famous Confuciusornis came from. Schizooura had an unusual arrangement of tail feathers that gave the appearance of being split in two, hence the establishment of the genus name Schizooura which translates roughly into English as ‘split tail’. This tail arrangement was probably not evolved for fine flight control but rather to attract members of the opposite sex as well as inter species recognition from other similar early Cretaceous birds, such as the aforementioned Confuciusornis.
Further reading
- A new basal beaked ornithurine bird from the Lower Cretaceous of
Western Liaoning, China". Vertebrata PalAsiatica 50 (1):
9–24. - Shuang Zhou, Zhong-He Zhou and Jingmai K. O’Connor
- 2012.
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