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Bellulornis Temporal range: Early Cretaceous,
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Scientific classification ![]() | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Clade: | Dinosauria |
Clade: | Saurischia |
Clade: | Theropoda |
Clade: | Avialae |
Clade: | Ornithuromorpha |
Genus: | †Bellulornis Wang, Zhou, & Zhou, 2016 |
Type species | |
†Bellulornis rectusunguis Wang, Zhou, & Zhou, 2016
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Synonyms | |
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Bellulornis ("beautiful bird") is an extinct genus of ornithuromorph avialan. It is known from a complete postcranial skeleton lacking the skull which was unearthed from the rocks of the Early Cretaceous-aged Jiufotang Formation in Liaoning Province, China. It was originally given the genus name Bellulia, meaning "beautiful", in reference to the fact that the skeleton was preserved in a pose reminiscent of a dancer.[1] However, it was discovered after publication that the genus Bellulia was preoccupied by an extant moth. The authors then amended the name to Bellulornis, adding the Ancient Greek suffix meaning "bird".[2]