Bellulornis

Bellulornis ("beautiful bird") is an extinct genus of ornithuromorph avialan. It is known from a complete postcranial skeleton lacking the skull which was unearthed from the rocks of the Early Cretaceous-aged Jiufotang Formation in Liaoning Province, China. It was originally given the genus name Bellulia, meaning "beautiful", in reference to the fact that the skeleton was preserved in a pose reminiscent of a dancer.^[1] However, it was discovered after publication that the genus Bellulia was preoccupied by an extant moth. The authors then amended the name to Bellulornis, adding the Ancient Greek suffix meaning "bird".^[2]

Bellulornis Temporal range: Early Cretaceous, ~122–118 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Clade:	Dinosauria
Clade:	Saurischia
Clade:	Theropoda
Clade:	Avialae
Clade:	Ornithuromorpha
Genus:	†Bellulornis Wang, Zhou, & Zhou, 2016
Type species
†Bellulornis rectusunguis Wang, Zhou, & Zhou, 2016
Synonyms
Bellulia rectusunguis (preoccupied name)