Yuanchuavis

Yuanchuavis (meaning "Yuanchu bird", after a mythical Chinese bird) is an extinct genus of pengornithid bird in the group Enantiornithes. Its type and only specimen, IVPP V27883, is the holotype for its only species, Y. kompsosoura (meaning "beautiful tail"). It was recovered from the Jiufotang Formation of China, and has a fossilized fan of highly graduated rectrices. The tail has graduation similar to Chiappeavis and a pair of highly elongate central rectrices similar to the pintails of extant male sunbirds. Melanosomes sampled from the holotype suggest the central pair of rectrices to be dark in colour, and the rest of the tail feathers to be either grey or with non-iridescent structural colour.^[1]

Yuanchuavis Temporal range: Early Cretaceous, 120–113 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Life reconstruction of Yuanchuavis kompsosoura.
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Clade:	Dinosauria
Clade:	Saurischia
Clade:	Theropoda
Clade:	Avialae
Clade:	†Enantiornithes
Family:	†Pengornithidae
Genus:	†Yuanchuavis Wang et al., 2021
Species:	†Y. kompsosoura
Binomial name
†Yuanchuavis kompsosoura Wang et al., 2021

See also

• Dinosaur coloration