Aurornis

Type Species: Aurornis xui

Classification: Dinosauria – Saurischia – Theropoda – Coelurosauria – Maniraptora – Paraves – Avialae - Anchiornithidae

Time Period: Late Jurassic (or Early Cretaceous)

Location: China

Diet: Insectivore 

The paravian Aurornis lived sometime between the Late Jurassic and Early Cretaceous. The type specimen was acquired from a fossil dealer in China and labeled as coming from the Tiaojishin Formation of the Oxfordian age of the Late Jurassic; however, those studying the fossil retroactively suggested it may have actually come from the Yixian Formation which dates back to the Early Cretaceous (Barremian and Aptian ages). Aurornis resembled Anchiornis in a number of ways (hence being in the same family group, Anchiornithidae), and some scientists believe that Aurornis is actually a variant species of Anchiornis (given that the differences between the two fall within the ‘range of variation’ expected within a single genera). Aurornis was the size of a pheasant, reaching only twenty inches in length. It had clawed wings and a long, bony tail. Its leg bones were similar to those of Archaeopteryx, but overall its anatomy was more primitive. Its primitive bone structure implies that it lacked the range of motion needed for ‘flight strokes,’ and though its whole body was covered in feathers, it lacked flight-capable feathers. Thus Aurornis may have been a ‘ground-runner’ or even lived in the trees. It may have hunted insects and worms that lived among the litter of the forest floor.