Outline: a typical theropod
Changzhousaurus
"Changzhou lizard"
Type species Changzhousaurus sinensis
- Lived
- 121 to 113 million years ago, Early Cretaceous
- Diet
- Carnivore
- Group
- Theropods
- Found in
- China
- Named by
- Xu 2026
Where its fossils were found
The evidence
Today
115 million years ago
Field notes
About Changzhousaurus
What it was like
Changzhousaurus was a small feathered dinosaur, a close relative of birds. It is known from a nearly complete skeleton with feather traces preserved around it.
Its world
It lived in the Early Cretaceous in what is now northeastern China. Its skeleton comes from the Jiufotang Formation, where it shared forests and lakes with the four-winged Microraptor, the beaked Psittacosaurus and the large tyrannosaur relative Sinotyrannus.
How it was found
Xu named Changzhousaurus in 2026, from a single find.
Lived alongside
Found in the same rock formations
Close relatives
Other members of Paraves
Sources: WikidataNamed in: X. Xu. 2026. A new feathered dinosaur from Early Cretaceous of northern China highlighting the complexity of early pennaraptoran evolution and comments on several relevant conceptual and methodological issues. Vertebrata Palasiatica