Dino card No. 1022 of 2,027

Lectavis

Say it: lek-TAY-vis

Name means: “Lecho Formation bird living at El Brete”1

Ate: MeatEarly birdsLate Cretaceous

Lectavis was a prehistoric bird that lived in what is now Argentina. It was about the size of a modern crow and had long legs for walking and running on the ground.1

Lived

72 to 66 million years ago3

Late Cretaceous

Fossils found in

Estancia El Brete, Salta Province, Argentina1 2

Food

Meat3

Length

0.41 m1

Weight

1.15 kg1

Height

0.3 m1

at the hips

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

How big was it?

How long was it?

How tall was it?

at the hips

How heavy was it?

as heavy as 10 bananas

as long as 2.5 bananas end to endlighter than a house catas heavy as 10 bananas

How big was Lectavis compared to YOU?

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cool stuff

Fun facts

Lectavis had a special bone in its foot called a hypotarsus, which helped keep its leg bones from slipping out of place while walking.1

Its leg bones were long and slender, with a tibiotarsus (lower leg bone) about 16 centimeters (6.3 inches) long.1

Lectavis lived alongside another bird called Yungavolucris brevipedalis, but Lectavis was better at walking on land.1

Its habitat was a coastal area with lakes or small rivers and lots of plants.1

Scientists think Lectavis might have been a running bird, similar to a modern courser, and unlike any bird alive today.1

AI-made picture of Lectavis — An AI-made picture of how Lectavis 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: Lectavis
Named by: Chiappe 19933
Group: Early birds
Family / clade: Enantiornithes3
Classification: Theropoda > Avialae3
Age of the rocks: 72 to 66 million years (Maastrichtian)3
Rock formations: Lecho3
Countries: Argentina3
Fossil records: 1 in the Paleobiology Database3
Discovery: Lectavis was named by paleontologist Luis M. Chiappe in 1993. The only known fossil bones were found at Estancia El Brete in Argentina.1 3
Still debated: Scientists are not sure exactly how Lectavis is related to other enantiornithine birds, like Enantiornis and Avisaurus.1

Where the facts come from

Lectavis (en.wikipedia.org)
PBDB Taxon (paleobiodb.org)
Lectavis 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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