Shanweiniao 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 long-beaked enantiornithine bird

Bird

Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...

 from Early Cretaceous

Early Cretaceous

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

 China

People's Republic of China

China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...

. One species

Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...

 is known, Shanweiniao cooperorum. There is one known fossil

Fossil

Fossils are the preserved remains or traces of animals , plants, and other organisms from the remote past...

, a slab and counterslab. The fossil is in the collection of the Dalian Natural History Museum, and has accession number DNHM D1878/1 and DNHM1878/2. It was collected from the Lower Cretaceous Dawangzhngzi Bed, middle Yixian Formation

Yixian Formation

The Yixian Formation is a geological formation in Jinzhou, Liaoning, People's Republic of China, that spans 11 million years during the early Cretaceous period...

, from Lingyuan

Lingyuan

Lingyuan may refer to:*Lingyuan, Liaoning, city in Liaoning, China*Lingyuan Subdistrict, in Jinjiang, Fujiang, China...

 in the Liaoning Province, China.

O'Connor et al. (2010) found that Shanweiniao is a close relative of Longipteryx

Longipteryx

Longipteryx is a genus of prehistoric bird which lived during the Early Cretaceous . It contains a single species, Longipteryx chaoyangensis. Its remains have been recovered from the Jiufotang Formation at Chaoyang in Liaoning Province, People's Republic of China...

, Longirostravis

Longirostravis

Longirostravis was an enantiornithine bird. It lived during the Early Cretaceous about 129 mya and is known from fossils found in the Yixian Formation in Yixian County, People's Republic of China....

, and Rapaxavis

Rapaxavis

Rapaxavis a genus of enantiornithine bird. Fossils were recovered from the Jiufotang Formation at Liaoning, People's Republic of China....

, which together form a clade

Clade

A clade is a group consisting of a species and all its descendants. In the terms of biological systematics, a clade is a single "branch" on the "tree of life". The idea that such a "natural group" of organisms should be grouped together and given a taxonomic name is central to biological...

 of long-beaked enantiornithine birds.

The genus name Shanweiniao means "fan-tailed bird" in Chinese. The authors report that Shanweiniao is the only known enantiornithine bird with a tail surface capable of generating lift, as in modern birds. They also report that only one other Mesozoic bird, Yixianornis grabaui, which is a basal ornithurine, has been reported with this fan - shaped tail feather morphology.

The species name, cooperorum, is after Carl and Lynn Cooper who donated funds to support the study of Mesozoic

Mesozoic

The Mesozoic era is an interval of geological time from about 250 million years ago to about 65 million years ago. It is often referred to as the age of reptiles because reptiles, namely dinosaurs, were the dominant terrestrial and marine vertebrates of the time...

birds in China.