Tongtianlong
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Tongtianlong Temporal range: Maastrichtian |
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| Holotype skeleton of Tongtianlong limosus | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Clade: | Dinosauria |
| Order: | Saurischia |
| Suborder: | Theropoda |
| Family: | †Oviraptoridae |
| Genus: |
†Tongtianlong Lü et al., 2016 |
| Species: | †T. limosus |
| Binomial name | |
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Tongtianlong limosus Lü et al., 2016 |
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Tongtianlong (simplified Chinese: 通天龙; traditional Chinese: 通天龍; pinyin: tōngtiānlóng, meaning "Tongtianyan dragon") is a genus of oviraptorid theropod dinosaur that lived in the late Maastrichtian epoch of the late Cretaceous period. It contains one species, T. limosus.
Tongtianlong was a sheep-sized member of the oviraptorids, a group of omnivorous, feathered, bird-like theropods. The describers of Tongtianlong recognized that it possessed a set of distinctive characteristics that differentiated it both from other oviraptorosaurs. In particular, unlike other oviraptorids, the crest of Tongtianlong was shaped like a dome, with its highest point just behind the eye socket; and the front edge of the toothless premaxilla, which would have supported its beak, was very rounded.
Additionally, there is a distinct ridge on the front margin of the parietal bone, wedged between the frontal bones; the shaft of the lacrimal bone, which is located in front of the eye socket, is wide, flattened, and plate-like seen from the side; the foramen magnum (a hole in the back of the skull) is smaller than the occipital condyle (the boss forming the skull-neck joint); there is no ridge on the bottom of the front lower jaws, which is also not strongly downturned; and the xiphoid process does not flare out from the sternum behind the ribs. Other characteristics of the skull separate Tongtianlong from its contemporaries; for instance, the nostril is situated much higher than the antorbital fenestra, a trait seen otherwise only in Nemegtomaia and Rinchenia.
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