Dino card No. 1388 of 2,027

Parvavis

Say it: PAR-vay-vis

Name means: “small bird”1

Ate: MeatEarly birdsLate Cretaceous

Parvavis was a tiny bird that lived in China during the Late Cretaceous Period. It was one of the smallest birds of its time, with a wingspan of only about 15 centimeters (6 inches).1

Lived

94 to 84 million years ago3

Late Cretaceous

Fossils found in

Luojumei Village, Chuxiong City, Yunnan Province, China1 3

Food

Meat3

Wingspan

0.15 m1

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

How big was it?

How wide were its wings?

How big was Parvavis compared to YOU?

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cool stuff

Fun facts

Parvavis was the first Mesozoic bird ever found in southern China.1 2

When Parvavis was discovered, it was the smallest known enantiornithine bird, even smaller than Iberomesornis.1

The fossil of Parvavis includes parts of the skull, spine, tail, and even impressions of its feathers in the rock.1

Scientists studied the bone structure and found that Parvavis was nearly full-grown when it died, but it was still surprisingly tiny.1 2

Parvavis had a special feature: the bottom joint of its second metatarsal (a foot bone) was wider than the joints of its other metatarsals.1

The claw on the fourth toe of Parvavis was reduced, meaning it was smaller than the other toe claws.1

AI-made picture of Parvavis — An AI-made picture of how Parvavis 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: Parvavis
Named by: Wang et al. 20143
Group: Early birds
Family / clade: Enantiornithes3
Classification: Theropoda > Avialae3
Age of the rocks: 94 to 84 million years (Turonian / Santonian)3
Rock formations: Jiangdihe3
Countries: China3
Fossil records: 1 in the Paleobiology Database3
Discovery: The skeleton of Parvavis was found in 2010 near Luojumei Village in Yunnan, China. It was named and described in 2014 by Wang Min, Zhou Zhonghe, and Xu Guanghui.1
Still debated: Scientists are still debating exactly where Parvavis fits on the enantiornithine family tree. Some analyses place it in a relatively basal position, meaning it may have been an early branch of this group.1

Where the facts come from

Parvavis (en.wikipedia.org)
The first enantiornithine bird from the Upper Cretaceous of China (tandfonline.com)
Parvavis 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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