Dilong paradoxus
Dilong ('emperor dragon') is a genus of small carnivorous dinosaur. The only known species is Dilong paradoxus. It is from Lower Cretaceous near Lujiatun, Beipiao, in the western Liaoning province of China It lived about 130 million years ago.
| Dilong Temporal range: Lower Cretaceous
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| Genus: | Dilong |
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Dilong paradoxus Type species | |
The animal had a covering of simple feathers or protofeathers. The feathers were seen in fossilized skin impressions from near the jaw and tail. They are not identical to modern bird feathers: they lack a central shaft. Their likely function was to retain body warmth. They could not have been used for flight. Adult tyrannosaurs found in Alberta and Mongolia have skin impressions which appear to show the pebbly scales typical of other dinosaurs.[1]
Dilong Paradoxus Media
Type specimen of Dilong - 01
Size comparison between Dilong and a human
Reconstruction of the small theropod dinosaur Dilong paradoxus, with a suit of hair-like feathers. Dilong was a close relative to Ty
Cast of the holotype skull
Fossil specimen, National Museum of Natural Science
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Xu X. et al 2004. Basal tyrannosauroids from China and evidence for protofeathers in tyrannosauroids. Nature 431 (7009): 680–684. [1] Archived 2012-04-02 at the Wayback Machine