Guanlong
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Guanlong Temporal range: Late Jurassic, 160 Ma |
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| Mounted skeleton (foreground) | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Clade: | Dinosauria |
| Order: | Saurischia |
| Suborder: | Theropoda |
| Family: | †Proceratosauridae |
| Genus: |
†Guanlong Xu et al., 2006 |
| Species: | †G. wucaii |
| Binomial name | |
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Guanlong wucaii Xu et al., 2006 |
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Guanlong is a genus of extinct proceratosaurid tyrannosauroid from the Late Jurassic of China. The taxon was first described in 2006 by Xu et al., who found it to represent a new taxon related to Tyrannosaurus. The name is derived from Chinese, translating as "five colored crowned dragon". Two individuals are currently known, a partially complete adult and a nearly complete . These specimens come from the Oxfordian period, of the Chinese Shishugou Formation.
About 3 m (9.8 ft), its fossils were found in the Shishugou Formation dating to about 160 million years ago, in the Oxfordian stage of the Late Jurassic period, 92 million years before its well-known relative Tyrannosaurus. This bipedal saurischian theropod shared many traits with its descendants, and also had some unusual ones, like a large crest on its head. Unlike later tyrannosaurs, Guanlong had three long fingers on its hands. Aside from its distinctive crest, it would have resembled its close relative Dilong, and like Dilong may have had a coat of primitive feathers.
Guanlong was discovered in the Dzungaria area of China by a joint expedition by scientists from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology and George Washington University, and named by Xu Xing and others in 2006. Guanlong comes from the Chinese words for "crown" and "dragon", referring to the crest. The specific epithet (五彩冠龙), wucaii (Hanyu Pinyin: wŭcăi), means "five colours" and refers to the colours of rock of the Wucaiwan, the multi-hued badlands where the creature was found.
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