Ambiortus

Taxobox
name = "Ambiortus"
status = fossil
fossil_range = Early Cretaceous
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Aves
subclassis = Ornithurae
familia = Ambiortidae
familia_authority =
genus = "Ambiortus"
genus_authority =
species = "A. dementjevi"
binomial = "Ambiortus dementjevi"
binomial_authority =

"Ambiortus" is a prehistoric bird genus. The only known species, "Ambiortus dementjevi", lived about 120 million years agoVerify source|date=November 2007 during the Early Cretaceous in today's Mongolia.

It belongs to the Ornithurae, which include the living birds, their ancestors, and some extinct Mesozoic groups like the toothed Hesperornithes and "Ichthyornis". Among these, it appears to be fairly ancestral, similar to the better-known and slightly younger "Gansus yumenensis". These taxa suggest that the ancestors of the birds of our time had separated from the Enantiornithes (the dominant subclass of Mesozoic birds), not too long after the times of "Archaeopteryx".Mortimer (2004)]

The family Ambiortidae is sometimes used for this bird, especially if it is considered a close relative of the much younger "Apsaravis" which is then included therein. It is not at all likely however that these two are particularly closely related, and most authors simply consider it a basal ornithurine.

Footnotes

References

* (2004): The Theropod Database: [http://home.comcast.net/~eoraptor/Phylogeny%20of%20Taxa.html Phylogeny of taxa] . Retrieved 2008-AUG-14.

External links

* Dinosauricon: [http://dino.lm.com/images/display.php?id=1147 Specimen drawing] by Michael Mortimer. Retrieved 2007-NOV-03.