Yixianornis (meaning "Yixian Formation bird"[1]) is a bird genus from the early Cretaceous period. Its remains have been found in the Jiufotang Formation at Chaoyang (People's Republic of China) dated to the early Aptian age, around 120 million years ago.[2] Only one species, Yixianornis grabaui, is known at present. The specific name, grabaui, is named after American paleontologist Amadeus William Grabau, who surveyed China in the early 20th century.
The type specimen (and only specimen found to date) of Yixianornis, catalog number IVPP V12631 in the collections of the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, is one of the most well-preserved bird fossils known from the Jehol group. It is nearly complete and, unlike many other fossils, the bones are mostly uncrushed and were not split in half when the stone slabs were initially separated. It is also one of the few known Mesozoic ornithuran bird specimens that preserve clear impressions of the wing and tail feathers.[3]
Yixianornis was moderately sized compared to other yanornithiformes, at about the size of a chicken (20 centimetres (7.9 in) long excluding feathers),[1] with a wingspan of about 40 cm (16 in).[3] Yixianornis was grossly similar to its close relatives Yanornis and Songlingornis. All three had teeth, though in Yixianornis the tips of the jaws were toothless and pockmarked with small pits and grooves, possibly indicating the presence of a beak. The teeth were small and peg-like, and lacked any serrations. The lower jaw was thin and delicate.[3]
The breastbone bore a strong keel for the attachment of flight muscles, and contained a distinct opening or fenestra, a unique characteristic of yanornithiformes. The upper and lower arm were about the same length. Like other ornithurines, Yixianornis had a highly fused hand, with many wrist bones joined that are free in more primitive birds.[3]
The hips and hind limbs preserved more primitive features than the forelimbs, supporting the idea that the modern adaptations in the locomotion seen in modern birds evolved after the many specializations needed for flight. The hallux, or reversed, perching toe of modern birds, in noticeably pointed backward in the fossil. However, there is no clear evidence that the bone itself was twisted, which would indicate that the toe was permanently reversed.[3]
Yixianornis differed from related birds only in small skeletal characteristics. For example, the teeth in the lower jaw of Yixianornis were confined to a smaller space, while they lined more of the jaw in related species. The wishbone (furcula) of Yixianornis was more narrow than in its relatives, and its shoulder blade was much shorter, only half the length of the upper arm bone (humerus).[3]