| Iteravis | |
|---|---|
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| AGB5841, a specimen referred toI. huchzermeyeri | |
Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Clade: | Dinosauria |
| Clade: | Saurischia |
| Clade: | Theropoda |
| Clade: | Avialae |
| Clade: | Ornithuromorpha |
| Genus: | †Iteravis Zhou, Wang, & O'Connor, 2014 |
| Type species | |
| †Iteravis huchzermeyeri Zhou, Wang, & O'Connor, 2014 | |
| Synonyms[1][2] | |
| External image | |
|---|---|
 Speculative life restoration ofIteravis |
Iteravis (lit. 'journey bird') is anextinctgenus ofornithuromorph bird known from theEarly CretaceousJiufotang Formation of what is today theLiaoning Province of China. The genus contains asingle species,Iteravis huchzermeyeri, named in honor of thearchosaurpalaeontologist Dr. Fritz Huchzermeyer, who died shortly beforeIteravis was described.[3] The relationships betweenIteravis and species ofGansus have been debated, with some researchers arguing for a synonymy between the former andG. zheni, and others recovering a closer relationship between the two genera within the familyGansuidae.
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In 2018, Wang and colleagues described three new specimens similar toIteravis huchzermeyeri andGansus zheni, together comprising the only ornithurines described from the Sihedang locality of the Jiufotang Formation. Based on similarities between the three new specimens and the holotypes of the two named species, the authors concluded they all represented the same taxon, for which the species nameIteravis huchzermeyeri has priority. Furthermore, theirphylogenetic analysis placed these in a single clade diverging beforeGansus yumenensis, thetype species ofGansus. These results are displayed asTopology A in an abbreviatedcladogram below.[2] Shortly thereafter, Ju and colleagues (2021) independently published a more detailed comparison ofI. huchzermeyeri andG. zheni. Similar to Wang et al. (2018), these authors concluded that the two species are synonymous. They further emphasized the distinction betweenIteravis andGansus (G. yumenensis) at the genus level.[1]O'Connor and colleagues (2021) expressed that there are small differences observed betweenI. huchzermeyeri andG. zheni of "uncertain taxonomic significance". As such, they treated the two species as distinct, pending more thorough research. Regardless, their phylogenetic analyses placed these species as very close relatives (either in an unresolvedpolytomy or assister taxa), distantly related toG. yumenensis, reinforcing the generic distinction of the twoGansus species. These results are displayed asTopology B in an abbreviated cladogram below.[4]
| Topology A: Results of Wang et al. (2018)[2] | Topology B: Implied weighting results of O'Connor et al. (2021)[4]
|
Wang et al., 2025 (describingShuilingornis angelai) and Huang et al., 2026 (describingKunpengornis anhuimusei), both using phylogenetic matrices developed byAndrea Cau, recoveredIteravis as the sister taxon toGansus yumenensis. The former analysis placed these taxa in a broaderGansuidae, also includingKhinganornis,Shuilingornis, andChangzuiornis, while the latter analysis recovered Gansuidae as restricted toIteravis andGansus, diverging after a monophyletic clade comprising the aforementioned taxa. These results are displayed in the abbreviated cladograms below:[5][6]
Iteravis ate larger particles of food thanArchaeorhynchus, although the exact details of its diet remain enigmatic.[7]
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