Genus
Valid Extinct

Zhengheornis

Wang et al. 2026

Zhengheornis is an extinct genus of basal avialan known from the Late Jurassic Nanyuan Formation of China.The genus contains a single species, Zhengheornis buyu, known from a partial skeleton with feather traces, preserved on a slab and counterslab.

Temporal range
Triassic
Jurassic
Cretaceous
Paleogene
Neogene
252 201 145 66 0 Ma
PBDB occurrences
1
Group
Dinosaures
Carnivore Ground dwelling, solitary Terrestrial
🦴
PBDB ↗ Wikipedia ↗
Classification
Dinosauria Unranked clade
›
Theropoda Unranked clade
›
Neotheropoda Unranked clade
›
Averostra Unranked clade
›
Tetanurae Unranked clade
›
Coelurosauria Unranked clade
›
Maniraptora Unranked clade
›
Avialae Unranked clade
›
Zhengheornis Genus
Fossil sites 1 geolocated sites
Distribution
Top countries
🇨🇳 China
1
Geological formations
Nanyuan
1
Temporal distribution
Tithonian (149.2–143.1 Ma)
1
Species (1)
Zhengheornis buyu 152 Ma
Bibliography
Original description
M. Wang, J. Tang, and K. Deng, L. Dong, L. Xu, X. Xu, M. Lin, H. Du, G. Lin, R. Chen, C. Zhang, Z. Zhou. 2026. Jurassic avialan reveals stepwise evolution of bony tail in birds. Science Advances 12(27):eaeb5202:1-11 DOI ↗
Bibliography (1)
M. Wang, J. Tang, and K. Deng, L. Dong, L. Xu, X. Xu, M. Lin, H. Du, G. Lin, R. Chen, C. Zhang, Z. Zhou. 2026. Jurassic avialan reveals stepwise evolution of bony tail in birds. Science Advances 12(27):eaeb5202:1-11 DOI ↗