{{otheruses4|the feathered dinosaur||Dilong (disambiguation)}}
{{italictitle}}
{{otheruses4|the feathered dinosaur||Dilong (disambiguation)}}
{{italictitle}}
{{Taxobox
| name =
Dilong
| fossil_range =
Early CretaceousThe Early Cretaceous or the Lower Cretaceous , is the earlier or lower of the two major divisions of the Cretaceous...
| image =
| image_width = 200px
| image_caption = Model of
Dilong paradoxus
| regnum =
AnimalAnimals are a major group of mostly multicellular, eukaryotic organisms of the kingdom Animalia or Metazoa. Their body plan eventually becomes fixed as they develop, although some undergo a process of metamorphosis later on in their life. Most animals are motile, meaning they can move spontaneously...
ia
| phylum =
ChordataChordates are animals which are either vertebrates or one of several closely related invertebrates. They are united by having, for at least some period of their life cycle, a notochord, a hollow dorsal nerve cord, pharyngeal slits, an endostyle, and a post-anal tail...
| classis =
SauropsidaReptiles, or members of the class Reptilia, are air-breathing, generally "cold-blooded" amniotes that generally have skin covered in scales or scutes. They are tetrapods and lay amniote eggs, whose embryos are surrounded by the amnion membrane...
| superordo =
Dinosaur{{Otheruses}}{{pp-semi-protected|small=yes}}{{Otheruses}}{{pp-semi-protected|small=yes}}{{Taxobox|name = Dinosaurs|fossil_range = {{Fossil range|230|65|earliest=230|latest=0|PS=
Descendant taxon Aves survives to present.}}|image = field_dinos_2.jpg...
ia
| ordo =
SaurischiaSaurischia is one of the two orders, or basic divisions, of dinosaurs. In 1888, Harry Seeley classified dinosaurs into two orders, based on their hip structure...
| subordo =
TheropodaTheropods are a group of bipedal saurischian dinosaurs. Although they were primarily carnivorous, a number of theropod families evolved herbivory during the Cretaceous Period...
| superfamilia =
TyrannosauroideaTyrannosauroidea is a superfamily of coelurosaurian theropod dinosaurs that includes the family Tyrannosauridae as well as more basal relatives. Tyrannosauroids lived on the Laurasian supercontinent beginning in the Jurassic Period...
| genus =
Dilong
| genus_authority =
XuXu Xing is a famed Chinese paleontologist who has named many dinosaurs, including the new Jurassic Ceratopsian Yinlong, the feathered relative of Tyrannosaurus, Guanlong, the unusual Gigantoraptor, and the "sleeping dragon" Mei. He was born in Xin Jiang, China, in 1969...
et al., 2004
| subdivision_ranks =
SpeciesIn biology, a species is:* a taxonomic rank or* a unit at that rank ....
| subdivision =
D.
{{otheruses4|the feathered dinosaur||Dilong (disambiguation)}}
{{italictitle}}
{{otheruses4|the feathered dinosaur||Dilong (disambiguation)}}
{{italictitle}}
{{Taxobox
| name =
Dilong
| fossil_range =
Early CretaceousThe Early Cretaceous or the Lower Cretaceous , is the earlier or lower of the two major divisions of the Cretaceous...
| image =
| image_width = 200px
| image_caption = Model of
Dilong paradoxus
| regnum =
AnimalAnimals are a major group of mostly multicellular, eukaryotic organisms of the kingdom Animalia or Metazoa. Their body plan eventually becomes fixed as they develop, although some undergo a process of metamorphosis later on in their life. Most animals are motile, meaning they can move spontaneously...
ia
| phylum =
ChordataChordates are animals which are either vertebrates or one of several closely related invertebrates. They are united by having, for at least some period of their life cycle, a notochord, a hollow dorsal nerve cord, pharyngeal slits, an endostyle, and a post-anal tail...
| classis =
SauropsidaReptiles, or members of the class Reptilia, are air-breathing, generally "cold-blooded" amniotes that generally have skin covered in scales or scutes. They are tetrapods and lay amniote eggs, whose embryos are surrounded by the amnion membrane...
| superordo =
Dinosaur{{Otheruses}}{{pp-semi-protected|small=yes}}{{Otheruses}}{{pp-semi-protected|small=yes}}{{Taxobox|name = Dinosaurs|fossil_range = {{Fossil range|230|65|earliest=230|latest=0|PS=
Descendant taxon Aves survives to present.}}|image = field_dinos_2.jpg...
ia
| ordo =
SaurischiaSaurischia is one of the two orders, or basic divisions, of dinosaurs. In 1888, Harry Seeley classified dinosaurs into two orders, based on their hip structure...
| subordo =
TheropodaTheropods are a group of bipedal saurischian dinosaurs. Although they were primarily carnivorous, a number of theropod families evolved herbivory during the Cretaceous Period...
| superfamilia =
TyrannosauroideaTyrannosauroidea is a superfamily of coelurosaurian theropod dinosaurs that includes the family Tyrannosauridae as well as more basal relatives. Tyrannosauroids lived on the Laurasian supercontinent beginning in the Jurassic Period...
| genus =
Dilong
| genus_authority =
XuXu Xing is a famed Chinese paleontologist who has named many dinosaurs, including the new Jurassic Ceratopsian Yinlong, the feathered relative of Tyrannosaurus, Guanlong, the unusual Gigantoraptor, and the "sleeping dragon" Mei. He was born in Xin Jiang, China, in 1969...
et al., 2004
| subdivision_ranks =
SpeciesIn biology, a species is:* a taxonomic rank or* a unit at that rank ....
| subdivision =
D. paradoxus Xu et al., 2004 (typeIn taxonomy, a type species is a technical phrase, involved in the application of formal names...
)
}}
Dilong (which means 'emperor dragon') is a
genusIn biology, a genus is a taxonomic unit used in the classification of living and fossil organisms. The term comes from Latin genus "descent, family, type, gender" , cognate with – genos, "race, stock, kin" ..In addition, genus is a taxonomic rank in the hierarchy In biology, a genus (plural:...
of small,
tyrannosauroidTyrannosauroidea is a superfamily of coelurosaurian theropod dinosaurs that includes the family Tyrannosauridae as well as more basal relatives. Tyrannosauroids lived on the Laurasian supercontinent beginning in the Jurassic Period...
dinosaur{{Otheruses}}{{pp-semi-protected|small=yes}}{{Otheruses}}{{pp-semi-protected|small=yes}}{{Taxobox|name = Dinosaurs|fossil_range = {{Fossil range|230|65|earliest=230|latest=0|PS=
Descendant taxon Aves survives to present.}}|image = field_dinos_2.jpg...
. The only species is
Dilong paradoxus. It is from the
LowerThe Early Cretaceous or the Lower Cretaceous , is the earlier or lower of the two major divisions of the Cretaceous...
CretaceousThe Cretaceous , Latin language for "chalky", usually abbreviated K for its German translation Kreide , is a geologic period and system from circa to million years ago . In the geologic timescale, the Cretaceous follows on the Jurassic period and is followed by the Paleogene period of the...
Yixian FormationThe Yixian Formation is a geological formation in Jinzhou, Liaoning, People's Republic of China, that spans 11 million years during the early Cretaceous period...
near Lujiatun, Beipiao, in the western
Liaoning' is a northeastern province of the People's Republic of China. Its one-character abbreviation is Liao ."Liáo" is an ancient name for this region, which was adopted by the Liao Dynasty which ruled this area between 907 and 1125. "Níng" means "peacefulness"...
province of
ChinaThe People's Republic of China , commonly known as China, is the largest country in East Asia and the most populous in the world with over 1.3 billion people, approximately one-fifth of the world's population...
. It lived about 130 million years ago. It was described by
Xu XingXu Xing is a famed Chinese paleontologist who has named many dinosaurs, including the new Jurassic Ceratopsian Yinlong, the feathered relative of Tyrannosaurus, Guanlong, the unusual Gigantoraptor, and the "sleeping dragon" Mei. He was born in Xin Jiang, China, in 1969...
and colleagues in 2004.
Dilong paradoxus is one of the earliest and most primitive known tyrannosauroids and had a covering of simple
featherFeathers are one of the epidermal growths that form the distinctive outer covering, or plumage, on birds. They are considered the most complex integumentary structures found in vertebrates. They are among the outstanding characteristics that distinguish the extant Aves from other living groups....
s or protofeathers, and
scalesReptile skin is covered with scutes or scales which, along with other characteristics, distinguish reptiles from animals of other classes . The family Amphisbaenidae, which has naked skin, is the sole exception. Scales are made of keratin and are formed from the epidermis...
. See
Feathered dinosaursThe realization that dinosaurs are closely related to birds raised the obvious possibility of feathered dinosaurs. Fossils of Archaeopteryx include well-preserved feathers, but it was not until the early 1990s that clearly nonavian dinosaur fossils were discovered with preserved feathers...
.
The name is derived from the
ChineseChinese or the Sinitic language is a language family consisting of languages mutually unintelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the two branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...
帝
dì meaning 'emperor' and 龙/龍
lóng meaning 'dragon'. "Di", "emperor", refers to the relationship of this animal to
Tyrannosaurus rexTyrannosaurus was a genus of theropod dinosaur. The species Tyrannosaurus rex , commonly abbreviated to T. rex, is a fixture in popular culture. It lived throughout what is now western North America, with a much wider range than other tyrannosaurids...
, the "king" tyrannosaurid. "Long" is used to name Chinese dinosaurs in much the same way that the Latin
-saur(us) is in the West. The specific name,
paradoxus, is a
LatinLatin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Roman conquest, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe...
isation of the
Ancient GreekAncient Greek is the historical stage in the development of the Greek language spanning across the Archaic , Classical , and Hellenistic periods of ancient Greece and the ancient world. It is predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek...
παράδοξον meaning 'against received wisdom'.
The type specimen is IVPP 14243 (
Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and PaleoanthropologyThe Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology of China is a prominent research institution and collections repository for fossils, including many dinosaur and pterosaur specimens . As its name suggests, research is focused on both paleontological topics and those relating to...
in
BeijingBeijing is a metropolis in northern China and the capital of the People's Republic of China...
), a nearly complete, semi-articulated, skull and skeleton. Referred material includes IVPP 1242, a nearly complete skull and presacral vertebrae, TNP01109 (Tianjin Museum of Natural History), a partial skull, and IVPP V11579, another skull which may belong to
D. paradoxus or may be a related species. The type specimen of
Dilong was about 1.6 m in length, but it is thought to be a juvenile and may have been over 2 meters long when grown.
The feathers were seen in fossilized skin impressions from near the
jawThe jaw is any opposable articulated structure at the entrance of the mouth, typically used for grasping and manipulating food. The term jaws is also broadly applied to the whole of the structures constituting the vault of the mouth and serving to open and close it and is part of the body plan of...
and tail. They are not identical to modern
birdBirds are winged, bipedal, endothermic , vertebrate animals that lay eggs. There are around 10,000 living species, making them the most numerous tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Birds range in size from the Bee Hummingbird to the ...
feathers, lacking a central shaft and most likely used for warmth, since they could not have enabled flight. Adult tyrannosaurs, found in
AlbertaAlberta is one of Canada's prairie provinces. It became a province on September 1, 1905.Alberta is located in western Canada, bounded by the provinces of British Columbia to the west and Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Territories to the north, and the U.S. state of Montana to the south....
and
MongoliaMongolia is a landlocked country in East and Central Asia. It borders Russia to the north and the People's Republic of China to the south, east and west. Although Mongolia does not share a border with Kazakhstan, its western-most point is only 24 miles from Kazakhstan's eastern tip. Ulan Bator,...
have skin impressions which appear to show the pebbly scales typical of other dinosaurs. Xu et al. (2004) speculated that the tyrannosauroids may have had different skin coverings on different parts of their bodies - perhaps mixing scales and feathers. They also speculated that feathers may correlate negatively with body size - that juveniles may have been feathered, then shed the feathers and expressed only scales as the animal became larger and no longer needed insulation to stay warm.
Turner and colleagues, in 2007, reanalyzed the relationships of coelurosaurian dinosaurs, including
Dilong, and found that it was not a tyrannosauroid. Rather, they placed
Dilong two steps above the tyrannosauroids in their phylogeny; more advanced than
CoelurusCoelurus is a genus of coelurosaur dinosaur from the Late Jurassic period . The name means "hollow tail", referring to its hollow tail vertebrae...
, but more primitive than the
CompsognathidaeCompsognathidae is a family of small carnivorous dinosaurs, generally conservative in form, from the Jurassic and Cretaceous Periods. Compsognathids lie at or near the origin of feathers--skin impressions are known from three genera, Sinosauropteryx, Sinocalliopteryx, and Juravenator...
.
External links
{{portalpar|Dinosaurs}}