page_title: Changchengornis
section_title: Description
hierarchical_section_title: Changchengornis / Description
caption_attribution_description: English: Restoration of Changchengornis, a bird dated to the Cretaceous period, about 125 MYA. The illustration is based on images found here: [1], [2], [3] and [4].
context_page_description: Changchengornis is an extinct basal pygostylian genus from the Early Cretaceous. Its remains have been found in the People's Republic of China, in Chaomidianzi Formation rocks from around the Barremian-Aptian boundary, deposited 125 million years ago. Changchengornis was a close relative of the better-known Confuciusornis. In 1999 it was assigned to the Confuciusornithidae.
  The more pointed bill of Changchengornis might indicate a diet different from that of Confuciusornis. However, of Confuciusornis itself it is contested whether it were a fish eater, an omnivore, or a seed eater.
context_section_description: Changchengornis resembles its relative Confuciusornis. The type specimen is rather small, smaller than the smallest known specimens of Confuciusornis. Compared to the latter, Changchengornis had a beak that was more pointed, slightly hooked at the tip, proportionally shorter, and higher at the back. The deltopectoral crest of the humerus is not pierced. GMV-2129 also shows two elongated, ribbon-like tail feathers as found in some specimens of Confuciusornis, that are often considered to be the males. Also, the fossil gives the impression of a head tuft or crest being present; if so, the outline of its head must have borne an uncanny resemblance to today's Tauraco or turacos in general but it could also be an artefact of conservation.
caption: Life restoration
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