Nankangia
- Lived
- 72 to 66 million years ago, Late Cretaceous
- Diet
- Omnivore
- Group
- Theropods, Oviraptoridae
- Found in
- China
- Named by
- Lü et al. 2013
Where its fossils were found
The evidence
Today
70 million years ago
Habitat
It lived in southern China on a landscape shaped by streams and sediment washing down from higher ground. Ganzhousaurus, Jiangxisaurus and Banji lived in the same region.
Field notes
About Nankangia
What it was like
Nankangia was an oviraptorosaur, a toothless, feathered theropod with a short beak. It is known from a lower jaw and parts of the skeleton.
Its world
It lived about 72 to 66 million years ago, at the end of the Late Cretaceous, in what is now southern China. The region was rich in oviraptorids, and many other members of the family have been found there.
How it was found
Lü and colleagues named it in 2013. It is named after the county where it was found.
Field gallery
More views of Nankangia
Scenes reconstructed from the available fossil evidence.
The evidence
The science behind Nankangia
Which parts of the picture come from its own bones, and which come from its relatives.
From its own fossils
- The type specimen includes a partial lower jaw and skeleton with parts of the backbone, shoulders, hips and legs.
- The toothless lower jaw has a tip that does not bend downward.
- The thigh bone and shin bone are nearly the same length. The right thigh bone is abnormal.
Borrowed from relatives
- Conchoraptor provides a comparison for the missing upper face, neck and forearms.
Still unknown
- The shape of the top of its head, including whether it had a crest.
- Family-tree studies disagree over which oviraptorosaur family it belongs to.
- Its feather colors and exactly what it ate.
Discovery timeline
- 2013Named itLü et al.
- 2015Same rocksLü et al.
- 2022Family treeXing et al.
Key papers
The research behind what we know of Nankangia
Named it
Described the jaw and partial skeleton, and suggested that Nankangia may have eaten more plants than meat.
A New Oviraptorosaur (Dinosauria: Oviraptorosauria) from the Late Cretaceous of Southern China and Its Paleoecological Implications. PLoS ONE 8: e80557
Read the paper : A New Oviraptorosaur (Dinosauria: Oviraptorosauria) from the Late Cretaceous of Southern China and Its Paleoecological Implications (opens in a new tab)Same rocks
Named Huanansaurus and showed how varied the oviraptorosaurs living in the same region as Nankangia were.
A New Oviraptorid Dinosaur (Dinosauria: Oviraptorosauria) from the Late Cretaceous of Southern China and Its Paleobiogeographical Implications. Scientific Reports 5
Read the paper : A New Oviraptorid Dinosaur (Dinosauria: Oviraptorosauria) from the Late Cretaceous of Southern China and Its Paleobiogeographical Implications (opens in a new tab)Family tree
Described an oviraptorosaur embryo; in its analysis Nankangia fell among caenagnathids, a result the authors link to immature features.
An exquisitely preserved in-ovo theropod dinosaur embryo sheds light on avian-like prehatching postures. iScience 25: 103516
Read the paper : An exquisitely preserved in-ovo theropod dinosaur embryo sheds light on avian-like prehatching postures (opens in a new tab)
Close relatives
Other members of Oviraptoridae
Sources: Wikidata