Tiantaisaurus
"Tiantai lizard"
Type species Tiantaisaurus sifengensis
- Lived
- 106 to 101 million years ago, Early Cretaceous
- Diet
- Herbivore
- Group
- Theropods, Therizinosauridae
- Found in
- China
- Named by
- Qian et al. 2012
Where its fossils were found
The evidence
Today
105 million years ago
Habitat
It lived on land in eastern China during the Early Cretaceous. Its bones come from the Laijia Formation.
Field notes
About Tiantaisaurus
What it was like
Tiantaisaurus was a therizinosaur, a plant eater with a long neck and big claws, known from part of the skeleton.
Its world
It lived in the Early Cretaceous in what is now eastern China. Its bones come from the Laijia Formation.
How it was found
Qian and colleagues named Tiantaisaurus in 2012, from a single find.
Field gallery
More views of Tiantaisaurus
Scenes reconstructed from the available fossil evidence.
The evidence
The science behind Tiantaisaurus
Which parts of the picture come from its own bones, and which come from its relatives.
From its own fossils
- A partial skeleton comes from the Laijia Formation in China.
- Its vertebrae have spaces associated with air sacs.
Borrowed from relatives
- Missing parts of its skeleton are restored by comparison with other therizinosaurs, including Falcarius.
- A coat of simple feathers is plausible from the feathered therizinosaur Beipiaosaurus.
Still unknown
- Its skin color and feather pattern.
- Exactly which plants it ate.
- Its full growth sequence.
Discovery timeline
- 1999Close relativeXu, Tang & Wang
- 2010Close relativeZANNO
- 2012Named itQian et al.
Key papers
The research behind what we know of Tiantaisaurus
Close relative
Described Beipiaosaurus with filament-like feathers, providing a comparison for the body covering of other therizinosaurs.
A therizinosauroid dinosaur with integumentary structures from China. Nature 399: 350-354
Read the paper : A therizinosauroid dinosaur with integumentary structures from China (opens in a new tab)Close relative
Detailed the skeleton of Falcarius and traced anatomical changes within the therizinosaur lineage.
Osteology ofFalcarius utahensis(Dinosauria: Theropoda): characterizing the anatomy of basal therizinosaurs. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 158: 196-230
Read the paper : Osteology ofFalcarius utahensis(Dinosauria: Theropoda): characterizing the anatomy of basal therizinosaurs (opens in a new tab)Named it
Discussed the partial skeleton and air spaces in its vertebrae as part of a study of therizinosaurs from eastern China.
[Cretaceous therizinosaurs in Zhejiang of eastern China]. Journal of Geology 36: 337-348
No link available
Close relatives
Other members of Therizinosauridae
Sources: Wikidata