"Proornis" is an extinct genus

Genus

In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

 of basal bird from the Early Cretaceous

Early Cretaceous

The Early Cretaceous or the Lower Cretaceous , is the earlier or lower of the two major divisions of the Cretaceous...

 (Barremian

Barremian

The Barremian is an age in the geologic timescale between 130.0 ± 1.5 Ma and 125.0 ± 1.0 Ma). It is a subdivision of the Early Cretaceous epoch...

, 130-125 mya?) of northernmost North Korea

North Korea

The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea , , is a country in East Asia, occupying the northern half of the Korean Peninsula. Its capital and largest city is Pyongyang. The Korean Demilitarized Zone serves as the buffer zone between North Korea and South Korea...

. Since it was never formally described in a peer - reviewed journal, the genus is considered a nomen nudum

Nomen nudum

The phrase nomen nudum is a Latin term, meaning "naked name", used in taxonomy...

and thus not italicized. A single species Proornis coreae 1 is known.

Fossil remains of this animal, discovered in 1993 in Sinuiju series deposits at Sinuiju-si, consist of a skull, a few cervical vertebrae and a forelimb with feathers. It was originally thought to be a close relative of Archaeopteryx

Archaeopteryx

Archaeopteryx , sometimes referred to by its German name Urvogel , is a genus of theropod dinosaur that is closely related to birds. The name derives from the Ancient Greek meaning "ancient", and , meaning "feather" or "wing"...

, but newer analyses suggests it is more closely related to Confuciusornis

Confuciusornis

Confuciusornis is a genus of primitive crow-sized birds from the Early Cretaceous Yixian and Jiufotang Formations of China, dating from 125 to 120 million years ago...

(Tweet 2007). Confuciusornis

Confuciusornis

Confuciusornis is a genus of primitive crow-sized birds from the Early Cretaceous Yixian and Jiufotang Formations of China, dating from 125 to 120 million years ago...

 - like features include that the finger

Finger

A finger is a limb of the human body and a type of digit, an organ of manipulation and sensation found in the hands of humans and other primates....

 bones were proportionately shorter than the metacarpals, unlike in Archaeopteryx (Lee et al. 2001). Also, the first phalanx of digit III is much shorter than the remaining phalanges, and the claw of digit II is smaller than that of digit III.

Footnotes

1 Etymology

Etymology

Etymology is the study of the history of words, their origins, and how their form and meaning have changed over time.For languages with a long written history, etymologists make use of texts in these languages and texts about the languages to gather knowledge about how words were used during...

: Proornis coreae, "Korean bird-forerunner"; Proornis, from Ancient Greek

Ancient Greek

Ancient Greek is the stage of the Greek language in the periods spanning the times c. 9th–6th centuries BC, , c. 5th–4th centuries BC , and the c. 3rd century BC – 6th century AD of ancient Greece and the ancient world; being predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek...

 pro-, "before" and ornis, "bird". coreae, genitive form of Corea, Latin

Latin

Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...

ization of "Korea

Korea

Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...

".
is known.