Jian changmaensis is the first non-avian dinosaur found at a paleontological site that has yielded more than 100 specimens of Early Cretaceous birds. Jian changmaensis (left) attacks the early bird Gansus yumenensis (right) in what is now the Changma Basin of northwestern China approximately 120 million years ago. Image credit: Lewis LaRosa / Jão Canola….
Scientists have identified a new dinosaur species that lived 190 million years ago in what is now China, bridging a major gap in our evolutionary understanding of the long-necked giant. Xiangyunloong fengming was 9-10m long, making it one of the largest-known plant-eating dinosaurs found in China. It lived during the Early Jurassic epoch, between 201…
A new genus and species of massopodan sauropodomorph that lived during the Early Jurassic epoch has been identified from a partial skeleton unearthed in southwestern China. Named Xiangyunloong fengming, this dinosaur bridges a critical gap between early plant-eaters and the colossal four-legged sauropods that would later dominate the Mesozoic world. An artist’s impression of Xiangyunloong…
Scientists have long puzzled over the origins of a mysterious dinosaur excavated in the 1940s: Was it a young T. rex or another type of dinosaur? At first, researchers had only a tyrannosaur skull to go by, making it hard to tell if it belonged to a child or adult. Another skull and skeleton nicknamed…
Scientists have long debated whether dinosaurs were in decline before an asteroid smacked the Earth 66 million years ago, causing mass extinction. New research suggests dinosaur populations were still thriving in North America before the asteroid strike, but it’s only one piece of the global picture, independent experts say. “Dinosaurs were quite diverse and now we…
Wudingloong wui lived in what is now Yunnan, China, around 200 million years ago (Early Jurassic epoch). Reconstructed skeleton and representative bones of Wudingloong wui. Individual scale bars – 5 cm. Scale bar of the reconstructed skeleton – 50 cm. Image credit: Wang et al., doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-12185-2. Wudingloong wui was a small- to medium-sized non-sauropodan…
Paleontologists in China have discovered the skeletal remains of a remarkable new genus and species of huge-sized mamenchisaurid dinosaur from the Late Jurassic epoch. Fossil remains of Tongnanlong zhimingi. Image credit: Wei et al., doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-09796-0. The newly-described species lived in what is now southwestern China some 147 million years ago (Late Jurassic epoch). Scientifically…