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Schizooura lii

By Jack Wood on @thewoodparable

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Name: Schizooura lii

Name Meaning: Split-Tail

First Described: 2012

Described By: Zhou et al.

Classification: Dinosauria, Theropoda, Neotheropoda, Averostra, Tetanurae, Orionides, Avetheropoda, Coelurosauria, Tyrannoraptora, Maniraptoriformes, Maniraptora, Pennaraptora, Paraves, Eumaniraptora, Averaptora, Avialae, Euavialae, Avebrevicauda, Pygostylia, Ornithothoraces, Euornithes

Schizooura is a recently described and well known Euornithine from the Jiufotange Formation of Liaoning, China, living about 120 million years ago in the Aptian age of the Early Cretaceous. It is a well known dinosaur, with a wingspan of 65 centimeters, and a total body length (with the tail) of 55 centimeters. It had a small, triangular head with a pointed and thin bill, and it didn’t have any teeth. It probably was then a grain and plant eater, or an arthropod eater given its lack of teeth; it also probably was a ground forager due to its long legs and short and robust toes. It had a unique tail - though superficially resembling the ribbon tail feathers of earlier Avialans, it was a proper tail fan as in modern birds, with a long fork down the middle of it. It had broad, rounded wings, which would have allowed it to move well in a densely forested environment; the tail fan would have been a hindrance to flight and was probably for display, and was compensated for in flight by the broader wings. It probably evolved its toothless beak independently of modern birds, given that teeth show up in Euornithes more closely related to birds.

Sources:

Martyniuk, M. P. 2012. A Field Guide to Mesozoic Birds and other Winged Dinosaurs. Pan Aves; Vernon, New Jersey.

Zhou, S., Z. H. Zhou, J. K. O’Connor. 2012. A new basal beaked ornithurine bird from the lower Cretaceous of

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