Re: Yuanmousaurus, Sonidosaurus &Dapingfangornis was Re: Some Asian papers

[David Marjanovic <david.marjanovic@gmx.at>]

> Dapingfangornis sentisorhinus
> Enantionithine birds are the most blooming branch of early birds and have 
> distinct diversities. A
> large number of enantionithine birds have been reported from the Early 
> Cretaceous Jiufotang
> Formation in western Liaoning, China. Recently, we discovered a new 
> eoenantiornithid bird from the
> Jiufotang Formation in Dapingfang Town, western Liaoning. A new 
> eoenantiornithid bird,
> Dapingfangornis sentisorhinus gen. et sp. nov., is erected based on this 
> complete skeleton with a
> skull. The new bird is distinguished f...

...rom other known Mesozoic birds in a medium to small size, a distinct 
thorn-like process on the nasals, a sternum with a long and a short lateral 
processes. The thorn-like process on the nasal has not been discovered among 
known fossil birds, thus the discovery also provides new materials on the 
diversities of early birds."

That process looks a lot like an artifact of disarticulation.

It's a pity the photos are _so_ bad. No resolution worth mention.

Two *Confuciusornis*-style tail feathers are present. The general shape of 
the skull looks like *Longipteryx* (but see above!). There are at least 8 
sacral vertebrae, so it probably belongs to Ornithothoraces, but the 
evidence for it belonging into Enantiornithes seems to be limited to: 
"*Dapingfangornis* described in this paper is similar to Eoenantioronis from 
the *Confuciusornis* fauna in morphology (Hou and Chen, 1999), such as the 
short skull, larger nasals and similar sternum, and so it is assigned to 
Eoenantiornithiformes." Various plesiomorphies are compatible with this, but 
it goes without saying that I'm not convinced... On the other hand, it could 
be a synonym of something already described. I guess *Longipteryx* is a 
candidate -- it is not mentioned in the paper at all.

"Recently, from Shangheshou of Chaoyang County to Dapingfang, 
*Confuciusornis* birds were found from the middle to lower part of the 
Jiufotang Formation."

Oho!

"All these indicate that the Jiufotang Formation and the underlyingYixian 
Formation belong to a continuous deposit."

Why?