Its fossilized remains were found in the Camel's Humps sublocality of the Djadokhta Formation, at Ukhaa Tolgod in the Gobi Desert of Mongolia.

It has provided evidence that is directly relevant to at least four issues: The Sauriurae are a putative clade of primitive birds that includes Archaeopteryx, Confuciusornis, and Enantiornithes.

Apsaravis has several characters that place it near Aves (sensu Gauthier), including the presence of at least ten sacral vertebrae, a pubis and ischium that are closely appressed, distal pubes that do not touch, an 'obturator flange' on the ischium, loss of the cuppedicus muscle fossa on the ilium, a patellar groove on the distal femur, an anterior sternal keel, completely heterocoelus vertebrae, curved scapular shaft, and several features of the forelimb, ankle, and foot.

Apsaravis also retains primitive characters shared with Enantiornithes and more basal theropods, including a narrow intercondylar groove and barrel-shaped condyles of the tibiotarsus, a dorsal fossa of the coracoid, into which the supracoracoideus nerve foramen opens, and several features of the humerus.

Apsaravis, however, was found in a sand dune environment, and it has no obviously aquatic anatomical adaptations, giving clear evidence that not all early members of Ornithurae were shorebirds.

[3] Subsequent cladistic analysis indicates that it and the more advanced Palintropus – long believed to be a modern bird –, and perhaps Ambiortus with which the preceding two had occasionally been allied, form a distinct lineage.