Enantiornithines

[i‚nan·tē′ȯrn·ə‚thēnz]

(vertebrate zoology)

Opposite birds, so called because their foot bones fuse in the opposite direction of modern birds, from the subclass Sauriuvae.

References in periodicals archive ?

Scientists in north-east China dug up the remains of an unknown creature, which lived more than 124 million years ago and was part of the primitive bird group called enantiornithines.

Ancient birds 'had four wings'

The so-far unnamed creature, which lived between 124 million and 145 million years ago, belonged to an extinct group of primitive flying birds called the enantiornithines.

Strangeworld

The new species, which the Chinese paleontologists named Protopteryx fengningensis, is the most primitive known among the birds called enantiornithines.