Gobipteryx
Name:
Gobipteryx.
Phonetic: Go-bip-teh-riks.
Named By: Andrzej Elzanowski - 1974.
Synonyms: Nanantius.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia, Dinosauria,
Saurichia, Theropoda, Enantiornithes, Euenantiornithes,
Gobipterygidae.
Species: G. minuta (type).
Diet: Uncertain, but possibly a carnivore and/or
insectivore.
Size: Skull about 4.5 centimetres long.
Known locations: Mongolia - Barun Goyot
Formation, Djadokhta Formation, Nemegt Formation.
Time period: Campanian of the Cretaceous.
Fossil representation: Partial remains of a few
individuals, including embryos.
Gobipteryx is a genus of enantiornithine that lived in Mongolia during the late Cretaceous. Studies of Gobipteryx show that Gobipteryx would have been capable of flight soon after hatching out from the egg. This would have given Gobipteryx a significant survival advantage in a world heavily populated by small theropod dinosaurs. Studies of the wings and muscle attachment points show that Gobipteryx would have easily been capable of powered flapping flight.
Further reading
- Preliminary note on the palaeognathous bird from the Upper
Cretaceous of Mongolia. - Palaeontologia Polonica 29:103-109.
- Andrzej Elzanowski - 1974.
- Skulls of Gobipteryx (Aves) from the Upper Cretaceous of Mongolia. -
Palaeontologia Polonica 37 p. 153-166. - A. Elżanowski - 1977.
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