Xiongguanlong
"Xiongguan dragon"
- Lived
- 121 to 113 million years ago, Early Cretaceous
- Diet
- Carnivore
- Group
- Theropods
- Found in
- China
- Named by
- Li et al. 2009
Where its fossils were found
The evidence
Today
115 million years ago
Habitat
It lived on low plains around rivers and lakes in what is now China. Archaeoceratops, Jintasaurus and Xuwulong are recorded from the Xiagou Formation.
Field notes
About Xiongguanlong
What it was like
Xiongguanlong was an early relative of the tyrannosaurs, a medium-sized hunter with a long, narrow snout. It was more advanced than the earliest tyrannosauroids and shows some of the features that later tyrannosaurs had.
Its world
It lived about 121 to 113 million years ago, in the Early Cretaceous, in what is now northwestern China. Its bones come from the Xiagou Formation, where it lived alongside the early horned Archaeoceratops and the plant eaters Jintasaurus and Xuwulong.
How it was found
Li and colleagues named Xiongguanlong in 2009, from a single find. The name refers to an old name of the nearby city, "grand pass," and the Chinese word for dragon.
Field gallery
More views of Xiongguanlong
Scenes reconstructed from the available fossil evidence.
1 of 3
Lived alongside
Found in the same rock formations
A rock formation can hold fossils laid down millions of years apart, so not every animal here met Xiongguanlong.
The evidence
The science behind Xiongguanlong
Which parts of the picture come from its own bones, and which come from its relatives.
From its own fossils
- The original specimen preserves a complete upper skull and the backbone ahead of the hips.
- The skull has a long, low snout, a broader rear section and smooth nasal bones.
Borrowed from relatives
- The missing lower jaws are restored by comparison with the long-snouted Alioramus.
- A filamentous coat is inferred from feathered tyrannosauroid relatives such as Dilong.
Still unknown
- The exact shape of its lower jaws.
- How much of its body carried feathers.
- Its color and how its appearance changed as it grew.
Often drawn wrong
- A deep snout like that of Tyrannosaurus loses the long, low profile of its own skull.
- Its nasal bones were smooth, without the row of bumps found in Alioramus.
Discovery timeline
- 2004Close relativeXu et al.
- 2009Named itLi et al.
- 2009Close relativeBrusatte et al.
Key papers
The research behind what we know of Xiongguanlong
Close relative
Described Dilong with preserved feather-like filaments, supporting a feathered covering in early tyrannosauroid relatives.
Basal tyrannosauroids from China and evidence for protofeathers in tyrannosauroids. Nature 431: 680-684
Read the paper : Basal tyrannosauroids from China and evidence for protofeathers in tyrannosauroids (opens in a new tab)Named it
Described a long-snouted tyrannosauroid with a mix of features linking early relatives to later tyrannosaurs.
A longirostrine tyrannosauroid from the Early Cretaceous of China. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 277: 183-190
Read the paper : A longirostrine tyrannosauroid from the Early Cretaceous of China (opens in a new tab)Close relative
Described Alioramus and compared its elongated snout with the independently evolved long snout of Xiongguanlong.
A long-snouted, multihorned tyrannosaurid from the Late Cretaceous of Mongolia. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 106: 17261-17266
Read the paper : A long-snouted, multihorned tyrannosaurid from the Late Cretaceous of Mongolia (opens in a new tab)
Close relatives
Other members of Tyrannosauroidea
Sources: Wikidata