| Gansus Temporal range: Early Cretaceous,
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|---|---|
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| Fossil specimen, Beijing Museum of Natural History. | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Clade: | Dinosauria |
| Clade: | Saurischia |
| Clade: | Theropoda |
| Clade: | Avialae |
| Family: | †Gansuidae |
| Genus: | †Gansus Hou & Liu, 1984 |
| Type species | |
| †Gansus yumenensis Hou & Liu, 1984
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| Other species | |
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Gansus is a genus of aquatic birds that lived during the Aptian age of the Early Cretaceous (Aptian-Albian) period in what are now Gansu and Liaoning provinces, western China. The rock layers from which their fossils have been recovered are dated to 120 million years ago.[2] It was first described in 1984 on the basis of an isolated left leg.[3] It is the oldest-known member of the Ornithurae, the group which includes modern birds (Neornithes) and extinct related groups, such as Ichthyornis and Hesperornithes.[3][4]
- ^ Liu, Di; Chiappe, Luis M.; Zhang, Yuguang; Bell, Alyssa; Meng, Qingjin; Ji, Qiang; Wang, Xuri (2014-11-14). "An advanced, new long-legged bird from the Early Cretaceous of the Jehol Group (northeastern China): insights into the temporal divergence of modern birds". Zootaxa. 3884 (3): 253–266. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.3884.3.4. ISSN 1175-5334.
- ^ Ji, S.-A. Atterholt, J. O'Connor, J.K. Lamanna, M.C. Harris, J.D. Li, D.-Q. You, H.-L. & Dodson, P. (2011) A new, three-dimensionally preserved enantiornithine bird (Aves: Ornithothoraces) from Gansu Province, north-western China. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 162(1):201–219.
- ^ a b Hou, L. & Liu, Z. (1984) A new fossil bird from Lower Cretaceous of Gansu and early evolution of birds. Sci. Sin. Ser. B. 27:1296−1302.
- ^ O’Connor, J.K & Zhou, Z. (2012) A redescription of Chaoyangia beishanensis (Aves) and a comprehensive phylogeny of Mesozoic birds. Journal of Systematic Palaeontology.