Dinopedia
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Koreanarchaeopteryx

An artist's illustration and fossil of "Proornis coreae"

"Proornis" is an extinct genus of basal bird from the Early Cretaceous (Barremian, 130-125 mya) of northernmost North Korea. Since it was never formally described in a peer - reviewed journal, the genus is considered a nomen nudum. A single species, "Proornis coreae", 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. Confuciusornis-like features include the finger bones proportionately shorter than the metacarpals, unlike in Archaeopteryx (Lee et al. 2001). Also, the first phalanx of digit 3 is much shorter than the remaining phalanges, and the claw of digit 2 is smaller than that of digit 3.

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