Parahongshanornis is known from the holotype PMOL-AB00161, which was found near Yuanjiawa, Chaoyang, in the middle Aptian Jiufotang Formation of the Jehol Biota, about 120 million years old. It consists of a nearly complete and articulated skeleton missing the skull but showing remains of the soft parts of the body, including some feathering. Most of the vertebral column is obscured by the sternum and pelvis.[1]
Parahongshanornis is a small species with a femur length of twenty-four millimetres. The furcula is U-shaped. The coracoid is elongated but with a broad end touching the sternum. The sternum has a keel over its entire length and two pairs of deep indentations at its back edge. The pubis is narrow and long with a distinctive pubic foot. The upper arm is somewhat longer than the lower arm. The sub-equal second and third metacarpals are fused to each other and the wrist, but the first is not. The first phalanx of the second finger is stout and short; the second phalanx is long and narrow.[1]
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