Abavornis

Taxobox
name = "Abavornis"
fossil_range = Late Cretaceous
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Aves
subclassis = Enantiornithes?
genus = "Abavornis"
genus_authority = Panteleev, 1998
species = "A. bonaparti"
binomial = "Abavornis bonaparti"
binomial_authority = Panteleev, 1998

"Abavornis" ("Great-great-grandfather bird") is the name given to a genus of primitive birds from the Late Cretaceous, containing the single species "A. bonaparti" (named in honor of the Argentine paleontologist José Bonaparte). It was probably a member of the Enantiornithes, but as it is only known from a single broken coracoid (TsNIGRI 56/11915), which, however, looks typically enantiornithine, that assignment is tentative. The fossil is from Late Cretaceous Bissekty Formation (Coniacian, 89-86 MYA) in the Kyzylkum, Uzbekistan. Another partial coracoid (PO 4605) is very similar and is referred to as "Abavornis" sp.; it might belong to "A. bonaparti" and if so show some features which are damaged in the holotype.

References

* Panteleyev, Andrey V. (1998): New species of enantiornithines (Aves: Enantiornithes) from the Upper Cretaceous of Central Kyzylkum. "Russkii Ornitologicheskii Zhurnal". 35: 3-15. [Article in Russian]