Lingyuanosaurus
Lingyuanosaurus was a small, feathered dinosaur that lived in what is now China. It was a therizinosaur, a type of meat-eating dinosaur that later evolved to eat plants. This dinosaur had a long neck and a beak, and its fossils help scientists understand how therizinosaurs changed over time.12
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Fun facts
Lingyuanosaurus is the third therizinosaur found in the Jehol Group of China, along with Jianchangosaurus and Beipiaosaurus.1
Its fossils were found in a single layer of rock, all from one individual dinosaur.2
Lingyuanosaurus had a tibia (shin bone) that was longer than its femur (thigh bone), which is unusual for therizinosaurs.12
Scientists think Lingyuanosaurus was an intermediate therizinosaur, meaning it lived between the early and late branches of this group.12
The fossils of Lingyuanosaurus include parts of its spine, ribs, arms, legs, and hip bones, but no skull.2
Lingyuanosaurus lived during the Early Cretaceous period, about 121 to 113 million years ago.4
Most asked questions about Lingyuanosaurus
?How big was Lingyuanosaurus?
It was small, about 2.2 metres (7.2 feet) long and weighed around 12 kilograms (26 pounds).3
?What did Lingyuanosaurus eat?
It was a therizinosaur, a type of theropod dinosaur that evolved to eat plants. It had a beak and small leaf shaped teeth for a herbivorous diet.2
?Did Lingyuanosaurus have feathers?
Yes, it was a feathered dinosaur. It belonged to a group of theropods that are known to have had feathers.3
?When did Lingyuanosaurus live?
It lived during the Early Cretaceous period, about 121 to 113 million years ago.3
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For dino experts
- Scientific name
- Lingyuanosaurus
- Named by
- Yao et al. 20194
- Group
- Odd feathered dinos
- Family / clade
- Therizinosauria4
- Classification
- Theropoda > Therizinosauria4
- Age of the rocks
- 121 to 113 million years (Aptian)4
- Rock formations
- Jiufotang4
- Countries
- China4
- Fossil records
- 1 in the Paleobiology Database4
- Discovery
- Lingyuanosaurus was named in 2019 by Yao and colleagues based on a partial skeleton found at Sihedang, Lingyuan, China. The name comes from the city of Lingyuan and the town of Sihedang.41
- Still debated
- Scientists are not sure whether the rocks that held Lingyuanosaurus belong to the Yixian Formation or the Jiufotang Formation.12
Where the facts come from
- A new transitional therizinosaurian theropod from the Early Cretaceous Jehol Biota of China | Scientific Reports (preview-www.nature.com)
- A new transitional therizinosaurian theropod from the Early Cretaceous Jehol Biota of China (pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
- Lingyuanosaurus (en.wikipedia.org)
- Lingyuanosaurus in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.
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