Tianyulong
Name:
Tianyulong
(Tianyu dragon - after the Tianyu Museum of Nature).
Phonetic: Te-an-yu-long.
Named By: Zheng, Xiao-Ting, You, Hai-Lu;
Xu, Xing & Dong, Zhi-Ming - 2009.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia, Sinosauria,
Ornithischia, Heterodontosauridae.
Species: T. confuciusi
(type).
Diet: Herbivore/Omniovore?
Size: About 70 centimetres long.
Known locations: China, Liaoning Province -
Tiaojishan Formation.
Time period: Oxfordian of the Jurassic.
Fossil representation: Partial skull and mandible
with partial post cranial remains.
Perhaps
the most note worthy things about Tianyulong is the
presence of a row
of large filament structures about 6 centimetres tall and believed
to have been protofeathers that ran along the neck and back. These
were likely for display, but here the function of the feathers is not
as important as the actual presence. Tianyulong
was a
heterodontosaurid, and therefore descendent of earlier
heterodontosaurs such as Heterodontosaurus.
The key important thing
here is that these dinosaurs were ornithischian, or ‘bird hipped’
dinosaurs, and primitive feathers were once believed to have been
exclusive to the theropod saurischian, or ‘lizard-hipped’
dinosaurs. The primitive hair-like feathers mean one of two things.
Either feathers evolved independently in both lines, or the
primitive feathers of dinosaurs have their origin to the earliest days
of dinosaur evolution or perhaps even before.
Aside
from the feathers, Tianyulong was the first
heterodontosaurid to be
discovered in Asia, with the type genus Heterodontosaurus
being known
from South Africa (and possibly the Americas) and other genera
such as Fruitadens
living in North America. Additional remains
of possible heterodontosaurids may also come from the early Cretaceous
of England. Like its relatives, Tianyulong had
a mixed collection
of teeth including the large tusks in the front of the mouth.
Tianyulong is believed to have been primarily
herbivorous, yet the
mix of teeth meant that they were also capable of processing meat,
meaning that Tianyulong were possibly omnivorous.
Further reading
- An Early Cretaceous heterodontosaurid dinosaur with filamentous
integumentary structures - Zheng, Xiao-Ting, You, Hai-Lu;
Xu, Xing & Dong, Zhi-Ming - 19th March, 2009.
- Timing of the earliest known feathered dinosaurs and transitional
pterosaurs older than the Jehol Biota. - Liu Y.-Q. Kuang H.-W.,
Jiang X.-J., Peng N., Xu H. & Sun H.-Y. - 2012.
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