| Mystiornis Temporal range:
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|---|---|
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Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Clade: | Dinosauria |
| Clade: | Saurischia |
| Clade: | Theropoda |
| Clade: | Avialae |
| Clade: | †Enantiornithes |
| Family: | †Avisauridae |
| Genus: | †Mystiornis Kurochkin et al., 2011 |
| Species: | †M. cyrili
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| Binomial name | |
| †Mystiornis cyrili Kurochkin et al., 2011
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Mystiornis is an extinct genus of bird which existed in what is now western Siberia, Russia during the early Cretaceous period (Barremian/Aptian age). It is known from an isolated metatarsus found in the Shestakovo-1 locality of southern Western Siberia. It was named by Evgeny N. Kurochkin, Nikita V. Zelenkov, Alexandr O. Averianov and Sergei V. Leshchinskiy in 2011, and the type species is Mystiornis cyrili.[1] While most recent studies place it as an Enantiornithine, specifically an Avisaurid, the authors note that the placement in both groups is tentative and further material will be required to make a firm decision on placement due to the unusual features of the existing material.[2]
Based on the strongly shortened metatarsal II and orientation of throchleae, Mystiornis had diving adaptations similar to that of Gansus and Neogaeornis. It was the size of a thrush.[1]
- ^ a b Evgeny N. Kurochkin; Nikita V. Zelenkov; Alexandr O. Averianov; Sergei V. Leshchinskiy (2011). "A new taxon of birds (Aves) from the Early Cretaceous of Western Siberia, Russia". Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. 9 (1): 109–117. doi:10.1080/14772019.2010.522202. S2CID 83823313.
- ^ Atterholt, Jessie; Hutchison, J. Howard; O’Connor, Jingmai K. (2018-11-13). "The most complete enantiornithine from North America and a phylogenetic analysis of the Avisauridae". PeerJ. 6: e5910. doi:10.7717/peerj.5910. ISSN 2167-8359. PMC 6238772. PMID 30479894.