Dino card No. 0181 of 2,027

Asiatyrannus

Say it: AY-zhee-uh-tie-RAN-us

Name means: “Asian tyrant”1

Ate: MeatTyrannosaursLate Cretaceous

Asiatyrannus was a small to medium-sized tyrannosaur that lived in what is now China. It had a deep, strong snout and was about half the size of its long-snouted cousin Qianzhousaurus. This dinosaur was a meat-eater that hunted in the same area as other tyrannosaurs.1 2

Lived

72 to 66 million years ago5

Late Cretaceous

Fossils found in

Shahe Town, Nankang District, Ganzhou City, Jiangxi Province, China (Nanxiong Formation)1 2

Food

Meat3

Length

3.5 to 4 m1 2

estimated from a sub-adult specimen

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

How big was it?

as long as 2 bicycles in a rowas long as 22 bananas end to end

How big was Asiatyrannus compared to YOU?

Just maths in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.

cool stuff

Fun facts

Asiatyrannus had a deep snout, unlike its long-snouted relative Qianzhousaurus that lived in the same time and place.1 2

The only known fossil of Asiatyrannus is a sub-adult that was at least 13 years old when it died.2

Its skull was 47.5 cm long, and its femur (thigh bone) was 44 cm long.2

Asiatyrannus is named after Asia and the Latin word for 'king' or 'tyrant'.1

The species name xui honors Dr. Xing Xu, a famous Chinese dinosaur scientist.1

Asiatyrannus and Qianzhousaurus likely ate different prey because of their different skull shapes and sizes.1 2

AI-made picture of Asiatyrannus — An AI-made picture of how Asiatyrannus might have looked, made by a computer from what scientists know. It is a guess: the real animal may have looked different, and nobody knows its true colours.

you asked

Most asked questions about Asiatyrannus

?How big was Asiatyrannus?

About 3.5 to 4 metres (11 to 13 ft) long. Its skull was 47.5 cm (18.7 in) long.1 4

?What did Asiatyrannus eat?

It was a meat-eater, like other tyrannosaurs. Scientists think it hunted different prey than its long-snouted cousin Qianzhousaurus because of its deep snout and smaller size.1

?Where did Asiatyrannus live?

It lived in what is now southeastern China, in the area of Ganzhou City, Jiangxi Province. Its fossils were found in the Nanxiong Formation.1 4

?Is Asiatyrannus a dinosaur?

Yes, Asiatyrannus is a dinosaur. It is a tyrannosaurid theropod, which means it is a meat-eating dinosaur that walked on two legs.1 4

?Was Asiatyrannus bigger than T. rex?

No, it was much smaller. Asiatyrannus was only about 3.5 to 4 metres long, while Tyrannosaurus rex could be over 12 metres long.1

?When did Asiatyrannus live?

It lived at the very end of the Cretaceous Period, about 72 to 66 million years ago, during the Maastrichtian age.4 5

Ask Rex about Asiatyrannus

Rex only answers questions about this page. 3 questions a day.

Rex is an AI and can make mistakes. He runs on servers in the EU and questions are never saved. Never type your name or other personal things.

For dino experts

Scientific name: Asiatyrannus
Named by: Zheng et al. 20245
Group: Tyrannosaurs
Family / clade: Tyrannosauridae5
Classification: Theropoda > Tyrannosauroidea > Tyrannosauridae5
Age of the rocks: 72 to 66 million years (Maastrichtian)5
Rock formations: Nanxiong5
Countries: China5
Fossil records: 1 in the Paleobiology Database5
Discovery: The fossil was found in September 2017 at a construction site in Shahe Town, Ganzhou City, China. It was named by Zheng and colleagues in 2024.1 3
Still debated: Scientists are not sure exactly how big a fully grown Asiatyrannus was, because the only known fossil is from a sub-adult.2

Where the facts come from

The first deep-snouted tyrannosaur from Upper Cretaceous Ganzhou City of southeastern China | Scientific Reports (nature.com)
The first deep-snouted tyrannosaur from Upper Cretaceous Ganzhou City of southeastern China (pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
PBDB Taxon (paleobiodb.org)
Asiatyrannus (en.wikipedia.org)
Asiatyrannus in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.

Every fact on this page has a number that points to its source. If we got something wrong, sorry, we are dino fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.

Rex is hungry! Dino Wiki is a dad's project for his dino-loving son, free with no ads. Grown-ups can feed Rex a snack to help keep it online.Feed Rex