Biology:Cratoavis

Cratoavis is a genus of enantiornithines. The type and only currently described species is C. cearensis, from the Early Cretaceous of Araripe Basin, Ceará, Brazil. The fossil, an articulated skeleton with feathers attached to the wings and surrounding the body, extends considerably the temporal record of the group at South America.

The genus was named after the Crato Formation, in which the specimen was found. The holotype is associated with elements of at least two Dastilbe specimens, which were situated close to the region corresponding to the intestine and cecum. This indicates that these fish were probably contained within the digestive tract of Cratoavis, which would make the holotype preserving a direct evidence of piscivory (fish-eating).

Phylogeny

Cratoavis in the cladogram from Wang et al., 2022:

Enantiornithes

Cruralispennia       Protopteryx         Elsornis     Flexomornis       Longipterygidae   Iberomesornis   bh bh Longirostravis     Rapaxavis       Euenantiornithes c e Sinornis   e   Enantiornis       Halimornis       Concornis     Neuquenornis         c b   Eoalulavis     Liaoningornis         Gobipteryx     Hebeiornis             Eocathayornis         Qiliania   Avisauridae     Intiornis     Soroavisaurus         Avisaurus       Gettyia   n Mirarce       e       Feitianius       fn Longusunguis   fn n Dunhuangia   fn Musivavis         Pengornithidae   Pengornis   m   Yuanchuavis       Eopengornis     Parapengornis       m       Grabauornis       Parvavis       Cratoavis     Gretcheniao               Huoshanornis     Shengjingornis         Zhouornis   Bohaiornithidae   Bohaiornis   ij   Eoenantiornis       Fortunguavis       Mystiornis       Shenqiornis     Sulcavis

l

Key to letters:

b = Boluochia
c = Cathayornis
e = Enantiophoenix
f = Houornis
h = Longipteryx
i = Parabohaiornis
j = Pterygornis
l = Vorona
m = Yuanjiawaornis
n = Yungavolucris

References

Template:Enantiornithes Wikidata ☰ Q20645262 entry