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Tugulusaurus

Say it: too-goo-loo-SORE-us

Name means: “Tugulu lizard”1

Ate: MeatMeat-eating dinosEarly Cretaceous

Tugulusaurus was a small, fast meat-eating dinosaur that lived in China during the Early Cretaceous. It had long legs and sharp claws, and it probably used its claws to dig for food like bugs or small animals.1

Lived

137 to 100 million years ago4

Early Cretaceous

Fossils found in

Wuerho area, Xinjiang, China1 2

Food

Meat1 4

Length

1.9 to 3 m1

estimate

Weight

6.26 kg to 21.16 kg3

adult body mass estimate with 95% confidence interval

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

How big was it?

How long was it?

How heavy was it?

as heavy as 5 house cats

as long as 3 dogs nose to tailas long as 17 bananas end to endas heavy as 4 watermelons

How big was Tugulusaurus compared to YOU?

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cool stuff

Fun facts

Tugulusaurus was one of the first members of the Alvarezsauria group ever discovered.1

Its thigh bone, the femur, was about 215 millimetres (8.5 inches) long, showing it was a small dinosaur.1

The first finger bone of its hand, metacarpal I, was very short and asymmetrical, only 26 millimetres (1.0 inch) long.1

Its tail vertebrae were wider than they were tall, with the neural arch placed only on the front part of the bone.2

The only skeleton of Tugulusaurus ever found includes parts of the legs, hands, tail, and a rib.1

Tugulusaurus lived alongside pterosaurs like Dsungaripterus and Noripterus, as well as a sauropod dinosaur.2

AI-made picture of Tugulusaurus — An AI-made picture of how Tugulusaurus 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 Tugulusaurus

?How big was Tugulusaurus?

It was a small dinosaur, likely measuring about 1.9 to 3 metres (6.2 to 9.8 feet) in length.1

?What did Tugulusaurus eat?

It was a carnivore, probably eating bugs and small animals. It likely used its long claws to dig for food.4 1

?When did Tugulusaurus live?

It lived during the Early Cretaceous period, about 137 to 100 million years ago.4

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For dino experts

Scientific name: Tugulusaurus
Named by: Dong 19734
Group: Meat-eating dinos
Family / clade: Alvarezsauroidea4
Classification: Theropoda4
Age of the rocks: 137 to 100 million years (Valanginian / Albian)4
Rock formations: Lianmuqin4
Countries: China4
Fossil records: 1 in the Paleobiology Database4
Discovery: Tugulusaurus was named by Chinese paleontologist Dong Zhiming in 1973, based on fossils collected in 1964 from the Wuerho area of Xinjiang, China.1 4
Still debated: Scientists still debate whether Tugulusaurus is a valid genus or a nomen dubium (doubtful name), but recent studies confirm it is a real and distinct dinosaur.1 2

Where the facts come from

Tugulusaurus (en.wikipedia.org)
the small theropod dinosaurs tugulusaurus and ... (ivpp.cas.cn)
Growth and miniaturization among alvarezsauroid dinosaurs: Current Biology (cell.com)
Tugulusaurus 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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