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Chromeornis

Say it: croh-MEE-OR-niss

Name means: “Chromeo bird”1

Ate: MeatEarly birdsEarly Cretaceous

Chromeornis was a tiny bird that lived in China about 120 million years ago. It had a long, pointy beak and sharp teeth only at the tip of its jaws. This bird probably ate small animals like insects or fish.2 3

Lived

121 to 113 million years ago4

Early Cretaceous

Fossils found in

Liaoning Province, China2 3

Food

Meat2 3

Length

0.1 to 0.2 m3

estimated from body mass and proportions

Weight

0.0335 kg3

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

How big was it?

How long was it?

How heavy was it?

as heavy as 0.5 bananas

lighter than a house cat

How big was Chromeornis compared to YOU?

Just maths in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.

cool stuff

Fun facts

Chromeornis is named after the electro-funk band Chromeo. Its full name Chromeornis funkyi honors the band's two musicians, Dave 1 and P-Thugg.1

This bird had a strange mass of stones in its neck. Scientists think these were not gizzard stones but maybe something the bird ate by accident and could not get rid of.3 1

Chromeornis was very small, weighing only about 33.5 grams. That is lighter than a tennis ball.3

It belonged to a group of ancient birds called enantiornithes. These birds had teeth and claws on their wings.2 3

The fossil of Chromeornis was found in the Jiufotang Formation in China. This rock layer is about 120 million years old.2 3

Chromeornis had a long beak that made up about 60% of its skull length. Its teeth were only at the tip of the beak.3

The fossil preserves soft tissues like skin, feathers, and even traces of the eyes. This helps scientists learn what the bird looked like in life.3

AI-made picture of Chromeornis — An AI-made picture of how Chromeornis might have looked, made by a computer from what scientists know. It is a guess: the real animal may have looked different, and nobody knows its true colours.

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For dino experts

Scientific name: Chromeornis
Named by: O’Connor et al. 20254
Group: Early birds
Family / clade: Longipterygidae4
Classification: Theropoda > Avialae4
Age of the rocks: 121 to 113 million years (Aptian)4
Rock formations: Jiufotang4
Countries: China4
Fossil records: 1 in the Paleobiology Database4
Discovery: Chromeornis was named in 2025 by Jingmai O'Connor and colleagues. The fossil was found near Lamadong Town in Liaoning Province, China.1 3
Still debated: Scientists are not sure why Chromeornis had a mass of stones in its neck. They might have been swallowed by accident or were part of an illness.3 1

Where the facts come from

Chromeornis (en.wikipedia.org)
PBDB Taxon (paleobiodb.org)
A new small-bodied longipterygid (Aves: Enantiornithes) from the Aptian Jiufotang Formation preserving unusual gastroliths (palaeo-electronica.org)
Chromeornis in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.

Every fact on this page has a number that points to its source. If we got something wrong, sorry, we are dino fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.

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