Dilong paradoxus
From Biocrawler, the free encyclopedia.
Dilong paradoxus ("Emperor Dragon paradox") is a small, feathered tyrannosaurid dinosaur species from the Lower Cretaceous Yixian Formation in the Liaoning province of China, and is around 130 million years old.
It is one of the earliest and most primitive known tyrannosaurids, and had a covering of feathers. Its name refers to the association of Tyrannosaurus rex with feathers: a mythological Chinese Dragon (Dilong), but with a paradoxical edge: its size and feathers.
The feathers were seen in a fossilized skin impression of the jaw and tail. They are not developed as modern feathers, lacking a central shaft and used for warmth rather than fligth. Adult tyrannosaurs, found in Alberta and Mongolia have skin impressions which appear to show the pebbly scales typical of other dinosaurs. Possibly the juveniles were feathered but shed them as the animal became larger.
Dilong was about 1.6 m in length and is known from four moderately complete skeletons.
References
Xu, X., Norell, M. A., Kuang, X., Wang, X., Zhao, Q., Jia, C. (2004). Basal tyrannosauroids from China and evidence for protofeathers in tyrannosauroids (http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v431/n7009/full/nature02855_fs.html). Nature 431, 680-684.
External links
- New Scientist news article (http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99996500)
- Nature news article (http://www.nature.com/news/2004/041004/full/041004-11.html)
- MSNBC article with a picture (http://msnbc.msn.com/id/6191512/)nl:Dilong
