Dino card No. 1946 of 2,027

Xiongguanlong

Say it: shong-GWAN-long

Name means: “Xiongguanlong means 'Xiong Guan lizard', named after the Jiayuguan Pass, a famous gateway on the Great Wall of China.”1

Ate: MeatTyrannosaursEarly Cretaceous

Xiongguanlong was an early cousin of the mighty T. rex. It had a long, narrow snout and lived in what is now China about 120 million years ago. It was a meat-eater that could run after its prey.1 2

Lived

121 to 113 million years ago5

Early Cretaceous

Fossils found in

Fossils of Xiongguanlong were found in the Xinminpu Group in Gansu Province, western China.1 2

Food

Meat2

Length

5 m3

estimate

Weight

200 kg to 270 kg3

estimates

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 9 big dogs

as long as 5 dogs nose to tailas long as 28 bananas end to endas heavy as 54 watermelons

How big was Xiongguanlong compared to YOU?

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

cool stuff

Fun facts

Xiongguanlong had a narrow and long muzzle, similar to the later tyrannosaur Alioramus.1

It is the sister taxon to Tyrannosauridae plus Appalachiosaurus, meaning it is closely related to the family that includes T. rex.1

Xiongguanlong shows several features that later became hallmarks of tyrannosaurids, like a sharp crest on the top of its skull and a boxy braincase.1

Its premaxillary teeth had a ridge on the inner side, a feature seen in later tyrannosaurids.1

The slender, unornamented nasals of Xiongguanlong suggest that the evolution of tyrannosaur feeding adaptations was more complex than previously thought.1

Xiongguanlong lived during the Aptian to Albian stages, about 121.4 to 113.2 million years ago.2

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

?How big was Xiongguanlong?

About 5 metres (16 feet) long and weighed around 270 kilograms (600 pounds).3 4

?What did Xiongguanlong eat?

It was a meat-eater that hunted small- to medium-sized animals.4

?When did Xiongguanlong live?

It lived during the Early Cretaceous, about 121 to 100 million years ago.3 4

?Where was Xiongguanlong found?

Its fossils were discovered in Gansu, western China.3 4

?Was Xiongguanlong a dinosaur?

Yes, it was a theropod dinosaur and an early cousin of T. rex.3 4

?Why did Xiongguanlong have a long snout?

Its long, narrow snout was similar to Alioramus and may have helped it catch smaller prey.3 4

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For dino experts

Scientific name: Xiongguanlong
Named by: Li et al. 20095
Group: Tyrannosaurs
Family / clade: Tyrannosauroidea5
Classification: Theropoda > Tyrannosauroidea5
Age of the rocks: 121 to 113 million years (Aptian)5
Rock formations: Xiagou5
Countries: China5
Fossil records: 1 in the Paleobiology Database5
Discovery: Xiongguanlong was named by Daqing Li and colleagues in 2009 based on a fossil found in the Xinminpu Group of Gansu, China.1
Still debated: Scientists are still debating how body size evolved in tyrannosauroids, and whether the trend of increasing size seen in North American tyrannosaurids extends through the whole group.1

Where the facts come from

A longirostrine tyrannosauroid from the Early Cretaceous of China (royalsocietypublishing.org)
PBDB Taxon (paleobiodb.org)
Xiongguanlong (en.wikipedia.org)
Dinosaur - Xiongguanlong baimoensis - The Australian Museum (australian.museum)
Xiongguanlong 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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