[1] Both specimens of A. meemannae, the holotype STM7-145 and the paratype STM7-163, were discovered in the interbedded shale rocks of the Huajiying Formation in Hebei Province, China.

Archaeornithura is the first ornithuromorph found in the Huajiying Formation, which represents the earliest diversification period of the Jehol Biota, "the most important and diverse fossil avifauna known to science".

[2] The species had long legs and feet similar to modern plovers, suggesting that it was a shore bird that waded into shallow water to feed.

This feature was not previously known in the Ornithuromorpha, suggesting that modern feather morphology, in which it is lacking, evolved separately from the Archaeopteryx lineage in a later subset of the ornithuromorphs.

Archaeornithura was shown to be the sister taxon of Tianyuornis, with partially fused metatarsals II–IV and the expanded shape of the outermost trabecula of the sternum in common.

[1] The position of Archaeornithura in the evolutionary tree is shown by the following cladogram: Archaeorhynchus spathula Patagopteryx deferrariisi Vorona berivotrensis Schizooura lii Hongshanornis longicresta Parahongshanornis Longicrusavis houi Tianyuornis Archaeornithura Jianchangornis microdonta Songlingornis linghensis Yixianornis grabaui Piscivoravis Yanornis martini Gansus yumenensis Apsaravis ukhaana Ornithurae, inc. Ichthyornis and all modern birds