Gobipteryx minuta Elzanowski, 1974

CHIAPPE, LUIS M., NORELL, MARK & CLARK, JAMES, 2001, A New Skull of Gobipteryx minuta (Aves: Enantiornithes) from the Cretaceous of the Gobi Desert, American Museum Novitates 3346, pp. 1-16 : 2

Gobipteryx minuta Elzanowski, 1974

HOLOTYPE: ZPAL­MgR­I/12, fragmentary and distorted skull and mandible (Elzanowski, 1974); the rostral portion of the snout, the quadrate, and the mandible are the only portions providing reliable information. REFERRED SPECIMENS: ZPAL­MgR­I/32 (Elzanowski, 1976, 1977), poorly preserved preorbital portions of the skull and mandible, with portions of palatal bones; PIN­4492 (Kurochkin, 1996), partial skeleton preserving the rostral portion of the snout and mandible, and the two pterygoids in articulation with the parasphenoid rostrum [this specimen was used as the holotype of Nanantius valifanovi (Kurochkin, 1996) ; the synonymy of this name and the referral of this specimen is discussed below]; IGM­100 /1011, nearly complete preorbital region of the skull, scleral ossicles, and portions of the mandibular rami .

LOCALITY AND HORIZON: The Barun Goyot Formation localities of Khulsan (ZPAL­ MgR­I/12, ZPAL­MgR­I/32) and Khermeen Tsav (PIN­4492), and the Djadokhta Formation locality of Ukhaa Tolgod (IGM­100/ 1011). These localities are within the Nemegt Valley in southern Mongolia; the Barun Goyot and Djadokhta are regarded as Campanian age formations (Jerzykiewicz and Russell, 1991; Gao and Norell, 2000).

DIAGNOSIS: Toothless enantiornithine bird, with the derived presence of upturned rostrum, premaxilla with a large, horseshoeshaped palatal chamber, a diamond­shaped maxillary facet on its ventrocaudal corner, and longitudinal grooves on each side of the midline of its dorsal surface.