Outline: a typical theropod
Xingtianosaurus
Type species Xingtianosaurus ganqi
- Lived
- 126 to 120 million years ago, Early Cretaceous
- Diet
- Omnivore
- Group
- Theropods, Caudipterygidae
- Found in
- China
- Named by
- Qiu et al. 2019
Where its fossils were found
The evidence
Today
125 million years ago
Field notes
About Xingtianosaurus
What it was like
Xingtianosaurus was a small caudipterid, a feathered oviraptorosaur related to Caudipteryx. Its skeleton lacks the head, which gave it its name.
Its world
It lived in the Early Cretaceous, in what is now China. It comes from the Yixian Formation, where it shared the land with the feathered tyrannosaur Yutyrannus and the small predators Sinosauropteryx and Sinornithosaurus.
How it was found
Qiu and colleagues named Xingtianosaurus in 2019. The type species is Xingtianosaurus ganqi. Its name comes from a headless giant of Chinese myth.
Lived alongside
Found in the same rock formations
Close relatives
Other members of Caudipterygidae
Sources: WikidataNamed in: R. Qiu, X. Wang, and Q. Wang, N. Li, J. Zhang, Y. Ma. 2019. A new caudipterid from the Lower Cretaceous of China with information on the evolution of the manus of Oviraptorosauria. Scientific Reports 9(1):6431:1-10