Sulcavis

Sulcavis Temporal range: Early Cretaceous
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Clade:	†Enantiornithes
Family:	†Bohaiornithidae
Genus:	†Sulcavis O’Connor et al., 2013
Type species
†Sulcavis geeorum O’Connor et al., 2013

Sulcavis is a genus of enantiornithine bird. One species is named, Sulcavis geeorum. The fossil was found in Early Cretaceous (121-125 million years ago) rocks in Liaoning Province, China.

Sulcavis is the first discovery of a bird with ornamented tooth enamel. The enantiornithines are unique among birds in showing minimal tooth reduction and a diversity of dental patterns. This new enantiornithine has robust teeth with grooves on the inside surface, which likely strengthened the teeth against harder food items. No previous bird species have preserved ridges, striations, serrated edges, or any other form of dental ornamentation.^[1]

Discovery

The holotype of Sulcavis, BMNH Ph-000805, is discovered near the town of Lamadong, in Liaoning Province, China. The fossil was found in the Yixian Formation, an Early Cretaceous rock formation. . The genus was described on January 9, 2013 in an article that was published in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology by Jingmai Kathleen O'Connor, Yuguang Zhang, Luis Maria Chiappe, Qingjin Meng, Li Quanguo and Liu Di.

The type species of the new genus was named Sulcavis geeorum by the team of scientists. De genus name comes from the Latin words "sulcus" (groove) and "avis" (bird), reflecting the unusual dental characteristics of the genus. The species name is to honour the Gee family from La Cañada (US) "because of their generous contributions to the research of Mesozoic birds".^[1]

Phylogeny

The cladogram below follows O’Connor et al., 2013 phylogenetic analysis.^[1]

Pygostylia

Confuciusornithiformes Omnivoropterygiformes Ornithothoraces  Euornithes Enantiornithes  Protopteryx fengningensis Elsornis keni Longipterygidae  Boluochia zhengi Longipteryx chaoyangensis Longirostravisidae  Eocathayornis walkeri Rapaxavis pani Longirostravis hani Shanweiniao cooperorum Shenqiornis mengi Iberomesornis romerali Otogornis genghisi Sulcavis geeorum Pengornis houi Neuquenornis volans Gobipterygidae  Gobipteryx minuta Vescornis hebeiensis Eoenantiornis buhleri Eoalulavis hoyasi Liaoningornis longidigitris Cathayornis Concornis lacustris

References

1. O’Connor, J. K.; Zhang, Y.; Chiappe, L. M.; Meng, Q.; Quanguo, L.; Di, L. (2013). "A new enantiornithine from the Yixian Formation with the first recognized avian enamel specialization". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 33: 1. doi:10.1080/02724634.2012.719176.