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Sinornis

Say it: sye-NOR-nis

Name means: “Chinese bird”1

Ate: MeatEarly birdsEarly Cretaceous

Sinornis was a tiny bird that lived about 120 million years ago in what is now China. It was about the size of a sparrow and could fly and perch just like modern birds. Its fossils helped scientists understand how birds evolved from dinosaurs.2 1

Lived

121 to 113 million years ago3

Early Cretaceous

Fossils found in

Liaoning Province, China (Jiufotang Formation)1 3

Food

Meat3

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

cool stuff

Fun facts

Sinornis had a special wrist bone with a groove that let it bend its wrist sharply, tucking its wings tightly during flight or rest.1

Unlike modern birds, Sinornis had separate finger bones with small claws on its first and second digits.1

Sinornis had a fully opposable hallux (back toe) with a large claw, which helped it perch on branches.1

Its breastbone and shoulder structures were built for strong flight muscles, similar to birds today.1

Sinornis still had some primitive features like a flexible hand, a footed pubis, and stomach ribs (gastralia), which it shared with the early bird Archaeopteryx.2 1

The fossil of Sinornis was discovered by a Chinese farmer before 1992, and scientists Paul Sereno and Rao Chenggang named and described it.1

AI-made picture of Sinornis — An AI-made picture of how Sinornis 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.

you asked

Most asked questions about Sinornis

?How big was Sinornis?

About the size of a sparrow. Its skeleton was sparrow-sized, so it was a very small bird.1 2

?Could Sinornis fly?

Yes. It had a broad sternum and shoulder structures for strong flight muscles, and a special wrist bone that let it tuck its wings, so it could fly like modern birds.1

?Did Sinornis have teeth?

Yes. Its skull had a short, toothed snout, similar to the early bird Archaeopteryx.1

?When did Sinornis live?

It lived about 120 million years ago, during the Early Cretaceous period.1

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For dino experts

Scientific name: Sinornis
Named by: Sereno and Rao 19923
Group: Early birds
Family / clade: Enantiornithes3
Classification: Theropoda > Avialae3
Age of the rocks: 121 to 113 million years (Aptian)3
Rock formations: Jiufotang3
Countries: China3
Fossil records: 1 in the Paleobiology Database3
Discovery: Sinornis was named by Paul Sereno and Rao Chenggang in 1992. The fossil was found in the Jiufotang Formation in Liaoning, China, and was originally thought to be 135 million years old, but later research showed it is about 120 million years old.1 2
Still debated: Scientists still debate whether another bird from the same area, Cathayornis, is actually the same species as Sinornis or a different one.1

Where the facts come from

Sinornis (en.wikipedia.org)
Early Evolution of Avian Flight and Perching: New Evidence from the Lower Cretaceous of China | Science (science.org)
Sinornis 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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