Xingtianosaurus

Say it: shing-TYAN-oh-SORE-us

Name means: “Xingtian lizard, after a Chinese god who kept fighting even after losing his head”1 2

Ate: A bit of everythingOdd feathered dinosEarly Cretaceous

Xingtianosaurus was a small, feathered dinosaur that lived in what is now China. It had long feathers on its arms and tail, like a bird. Scientists think it used its feathers for display or to help keep warm.2 1

Lived

126 to 120 million years ago3

Early Cretaceous

Fossils found in

Wangjiagou, Yixian County, Liaoning Province, China2 1

Food

A bit of everything3

Length

1.5 to 2 m2

estimate based on related caudipterids

Weight

10 kg to 20 kg2

estimate

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

How big was it?

as long as 4 house cats nose to tailas long as 11 bananas end to endas heavy as 5 house catsas heavy as 4 watermelons

How big was Xingtianosaurus compared to YOU?

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

cool stuff

Fun facts

Xingtianosaurus is known from a nearly complete skeleton, but the skull is missing. That is why it was named after a headless god.1 2

Its arms were longer than its shoulder blades, which is unusual for early oviraptorosaurs.2

Xingtianosaurus had a very short first finger bone, less than 40% the length of the second finger bone.2

It lived about 125 million years ago, during the Early Cretaceous period.3

Fossilized feather imprints were found near its forearm and hand bones, showing it had long wing-like feathers.2

Xingtianosaurus belongs to a group called Caudipteridae, which includes some of the earliest feathered dinosaurs.2 1

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

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: Xingtianosaurus
Named by: Qiu et al. 20193
Group: Odd feathered dinos
Family / clade: Caudipterygidae3
Classification: Theropoda > Oviraptorosauria3
Age of the rocks: 126 to 120 million years (Barremian / Aptian)3
Rock formations: Yixian3
Countries: China3
Fossil records: 1 in the Paleobiology Database3
Discovery: Xingtianosaurus was named in 2019 by Rui Qiu and colleagues. The only skeleton was found in the Yixian Formation of Liaoning, China.2 1
Still debated: Scientists are not sure exactly how Xingtianosaurus is related to other oviraptorosaurs, because its skull is missing.2

Where the facts come from

Xingtianosaurus (en.wikipedia.org)
A new caudipterid from the Lower Cretaceous of China with information on the evolution of the manus of Oviraptorosauria (pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
Xingtianosaurus 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