Cathayornis

Cathayornis is a genus of enantiornithean birds, from the Jiufotang Formation of Liaoning, People's Republic of China. It is known definitively from only one species, Cathayornis yandica, one of the first Enantiornithes found in China. Several additional species were once incorrectly classified as Cathayornis, and have since been reclassified or regarded as nomina dubia.

==Description== left|thumb|215x215px|Holotype (IVPP V9769) of C. yandica, Paleozoological Museum of China Cathayornis yandica was a small enantiornithean with a slightly elongated, toothy snout and perching feet. Like most other Enantiornithes, it had large claws on the first two fingers that supported the wing. According to most recent studies, only one specimen can be definitively assigned to this species, a fossil catalogued as number IVPP V9769 and currently housed in the collections of the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology in Beijing.