Outline: a typical theropod
Jian
Type species Jian changmaensis
- Lived
- 121 to 113 million years ago, Early Cretaceous
- Diet
- Carnivore
- Group
- Theropods, Dromaeosauridae
- Found in
- China
- Named by
- Zhou et al. 2026
Where its fossils were found
The evidence
Today
115 million years ago
Field notes
About Jian
What it was like
Jian was a small feathered hunter, a relative of Microraptor. It is known from a shoulder and part of a front leg.
Its world
It lived in the Early Cretaceous in what is now northwestern China. Its bones come from the Xiagou Formation, where it shared the land with the early tyrannosaur relative Xiongguanlong, the ostrich-like Beishanlong and the small horned Archaeoceratops.
How it was found
Zhou and colleagues named it in 2026. The type species is Jian changmaensis.
Lived alongside
Found in the same rock formations
Close relatives
Other members of Dromaeosauridae
Sources: WikidataNamed in: L. Zhou, M. C. Lamanna, and A. W. Poust, D. Li, H. You, J. K. O.'Connor. 2026. First non-avian theropod (Dromaeosauridae, Microraptorinae) from the bird-bearing Lower Cretaceous Xiagou Formation of the Changma Basin, Gansu Province, northwestern China. Annals of Carnegie Museum 92(2):89-110