Outline: a typical theropod
Ningyuansaurus
Type species Ningyuansaurus wangi
- Lived
- 126 to 120 million years ago, Early Cretaceous
- Diet
- Omnivore
- Group
- Theropods
- Found in
- China
- Named by
- Ji et al. 2012
Where its fossils were found
The evidence
Today
125 million years ago
Field notes
About Ningyuansaurus
What it was like
Ningyuansaurus was a small feathered dinosaur, an early member of the oviraptor group. It had a short skull and small teeth at the front of its jaws.
Seeds found inside its body suggest it ate plants, at least some of the time.
Its world
It lived in the Early Cretaceous in what is now northeastern China. Its skeleton comes from the Yixian Formation, where it shared the land with Sinosauropteryx, Sinornithosaurus and the early oviraptor relatives Caudipteryx and Incisivosaurus.
How it was found
Ji and colleagues named Ningyuansaurus in 2012, from a single find.
Lived alongside
Found in the same rock formations
Close relatives
Other members of Oviraptorosauria
Sources: WikidataNamed in: Q. Ji, J.-c. Lü, and X.-f. Wei, X.-r. Wang. 2012. A new oviraptorosaur from the Yixian Formation of Jianching, western Liaoning Province, China. Geological Bulletin of China 31(12):2102-2107