Outline: a typical theropod
Zhenyuanlong
- Lived
- 126 to 120 million years ago, Early Cretaceous
- Diet
- Carnivore
- Group
- Theropods, Dromaeosauridae
- Found in
- China
- Named by
- Lü and Brusatte 2015
Where its fossils were found
The evidence
Today
125 million years ago
Field notes
About Zhenyuanlong
What it was like
Zhenyuanlong was a feathered dromaeosaur, a relative of Velociraptor. Its single skeleton is nearly complete and shows large wing feathers on its short arms and long feathers on its tail. It was too heavy to fly, so its wings may have been for display or for keeping eggs warm.
Its world
It lived in the Early Cretaceous, in what is now China. The Yixian Formation it comes from was a land of lakes and forests, often buried by volcanic ash. It shared that world with the feathered tyrannosaur Yutyrannus, the small hunters Sinosauropteryx and Sinornithosaurus, and the plant eater Psittacosaurus.
How it was found
Lü and Brusatte named Zhenyuanlong in 2015. The name ends in the Chinese word for dragon.
Lived alongside
Found in the same rock formations
Close relatives
Other members of Dromaeosauridae
Sources: WikidataNamed in: J.-C. Lü and S. L. Brusatte. 2015. A large, short-armed, winged dromaeosaurid (Dinosauria: Theropoda) from the Early Cretaceous of China and its implications for feather evolution. Scientific Reports 5:11775