| Songlingornithids | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Holotype ofYixianornis grabaui,Paleozoological Museum of China | |
Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Clade: | Dinosauria |
| Clade: | Saurischia |
| Clade: | Theropoda |
| Clade: | Avialae |
| Clade: | †Yanornithiformes |
| Family: | †Songlingornithidae Hou, 1997 |
| Type species | |
| †Songlingornis linghensis Hou, 1997 | |
| Genera | |
| Synonyms | |
| |
Songlingornithidae is afamily of basaleuornitheandinosaurs from theEarly Cretaceous ofChina. All known specimens come from theJiufotang Formation and theYixian Formation, dating to the earlyBarremian andAptian ages, 125–120 million years ago.
The family Songlingornithidae was first named by Hou in 1997 to contain the type genus,Songlingornis.[1] Clarke et al. (2006) was the first to find a close relationship betweenSonglingornis and the "yanornithids".[2]
The name was originally coined to reflect a close relationship between the two supposedly similar (but poorly preserved) generaSonglingornis andChaoyangia. However, subsequent studies found thatChaoyangia was probably not closely related toSonglingornis. Instead,Songlingornis was found to be closely related to another group which had been given the nameYanornithidae—the name Songlingornithidae, having been named first, took precedence.[3] Some later studies have also placed thehongshanornithids in this group.[3][4] At least one study has found theLate Cretaceous Mongolian avialanHollanda to be a member of the group as well.[5]
Below is acladogram from Mayr (2017) showing the relationships between Songlingornithidae and otherornithuromorphs:[6]
A 2020 study by Wanget al. failed to recover a monophyletic Songlingornithidae, instead findingYanornis to form a clade with the newly described generaAbitusavis andSimiliyanornis, for which the name Yanornithidae was used:[7]
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