Apsaravis

Apsaravis
Temporal range: Late Cretaceous, 78 Ma
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Dinosauria
Clade: Saurischia
Clade: Theropoda
Clade: Avialae
Clade: Ambiortiformes
Genus: Apsaravis
Norell & Clarke, 2001
Species:
A. ukhaana
Binomial name
Apsaravis ukhaana
Norell & Clarke, 2001

Apsaravis is a Mesozoic avialan genus from the Late Cretaceous. The single known species, Apsaravis ukhaana, lived about 78 million years ago, in the Campanian age of the Cretaceous period. Its fossilized remains were found in the Camel's Humps sublocality of the Djadokhta Formation, at Ukhaa Tolgod in the Gobi Desert of Mongolia. They were collected in the 1998 field season by the Mongolian Academy of Sciences/American Museum of Natural History Paleontological Expeditions. It was described by Norell and Clarke (2001).[1]

Its habitat was presumably very arid open landscape much like it is today, perhaps hotter still and with more (but nonetheless intermittent) rain. Permanent freshwater would have been scarce.

  1. ^ Norell, Mark A., Clarke, Julia A. (2001). "Fossil that fills a critical gap in avian evolution". Nature Vol. 409 11 January 2001 pp.181-184.