Genus
Valid Extinct

Aurornis

Godefroit et al. 2013

Aurornis is an extinct genus of anchiornithid theropod dinosaurs from the Jurassic Period of China. The genus Aurornis contains a single known species, Aurornis xui. Aurornis xui may be the most basal ("primitive") avialan dinosaur known to date, and it is one of the earliest avialans found to date. The fossil evidence for the animal pre-dates that of Archaeopteryx lithographica, often considered the earliest bird species, by about 10 million years.

Temporal range
Triassic
Jurassic
Cretaceous
Paleogene
Neogene
252 201 145 66 0 Ma
PBDB occurrences
1
Group
Dinosaures
Carnivore Ground dwelling, solitary Terrestrial
Aurornis
click to enlarge
Aurornis xui, a basal member of Avialae from northern China, which lived 160 mya © El fosilmaníaco · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia
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
›
Aurornis Genus
Fossil sites 1 geolocated sites
Distribution
Top countries
🇨🇳 China
1
Geological formations
Tiaojishan
1
Temporal distribution
Oxfordian (161.5–154.8 Ma)
1
Species (1)
Aurornis xui 168 Ma
Images 1
Bibliography
Original description
P. Godefroit, A. Cau, and D.-Y. Hu, F. Escuillie, W. Wu, G. Dyke. 2013. A Jurassic avialan dinosaur from China resolves the early phylogenetic history of birds. Nature DOI ↗
Bibliography (1)
P. Godefroit, A. Cau, and D.-Y. Hu, F. Escuillie, W. Wu, G. Dyke. 2013. A Jurassic avialan dinosaur from China resolves the early phylogenetic history of birds. Nature DOI ↗