Luoyanggia

Say it: loo-yang-jee-uh

Name means: “from Luoyang”1

Ate: A bit of everythingOdd feathered dinosEarly Cretaceous

Luoyanggia was a small, feathered dinosaur that lived in what is now China. It had a beak and probably ate both plants and small animals, like a modern-day raccoon. This speedy little dinosaur was only about as long as a bicycle!1 3

Lived

121 to 100 million years ago3

Early Cretaceous

Fossils found in

Ruyang Basin, Henan Province, central China1 3

Food

A bit of everything3 2

Length

1.2 to 1.5 m1

estimates vary

Weight

2.27 kg to 9.1 kg1

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

How big was it?

as long as 3 house cats nose to tailas long as 8 bananas end to endas heavy as 2.5 house catsas heavy as 76 bananas

How big was Luoyanggia compared to YOU?

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cool stuff

Fun facts

Luoyanggia belonged to a group of dinosaurs called oviraptorids, which were known for their parrot-like beaks and often had feathers.1

It lived alongside giant dinosaurs like Ruyangosaurus, which was a huge sauropod that could reach over 30 meters long.1

The rocks where Luoyanggia was found were originally thought to be from the Late Cretaceous, but scientists now think they are older, from the Early Cretaceous, about 121 to 100 million years ago.1 3

Luoyanggia is only known from a single partial skeleton, so scientists are still learning about its full appearance and habits.1

Like other oviraptorids, Luoyanggia probably laid eggs in nests and may have sat on them to keep them warm, like birds do today.2

AI-made picture of Luoyanggia — An AI-made picture of how Luoyanggia 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.

Ask Rex about Luoyanggia

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Myth buster

Myth: Some people think oviraptorids like Luoyanggia were egg thieves because of their name.

Truth: Oviraptor means 'egg thief,' but scientists now believe these dinosaurs were actually caring parents that protected their own eggs, not stole others'.1

For dino experts

Scientific name: Luoyanggia
Named by: Lü et al. 20093
Group: Odd feathered dinos
Family / clade: Oviraptoridae3
Classification: Theropoda > Oviraptorosauria3
Age of the rocks: 121 to 100 million years (Aptian / Albian)3
Rock formations: Haoling3
Countries: China3
Fossil records: 1 in the Paleobiology Database3
Discovery: Luoyanggia was named in 2009 by a team of Chinese paleontologists led by Lü Junchang. The fossils were found at the Shijiagou quarry in the Ruyang Basin of Henan Province, China.1 3
Still debated: Scientists are not sure exactly how big Luoyanggia was, because only a few bones have been found. Different experts give different estimates for its length and weight.1

Where the facts come from

Luoyanggia (en.wikipedia.org)
Luoyanggia Lü et al. 2009 - Encyclopedia of Life (eol.org)
Luoyanggia 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.

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