Datanglong

Name: Datanglong ‭(‬Datang dragon‭)‬.
Phonetic: Dah-tang-long.
Named By: Jinyou Mo,‭ ‬Fusheng Zhou,‭ ‬Guang Ning Li,‭ ‬Zhen Hunag‭ & ‬Chenyun Cao‭ ‬-‭ ‬2014.
Classification: Chordata,‭ ‬Reptilia,‭ ‬Dinosauria,‭ ‬Saurischia,‭ ‬Theropoda,‭ ‬Carcharodontosauria‭?
Species: D.‭ ‬guangxiensis‭ (‬type‭)‬.
Diet: Carnivore.
Size: Estimated about‭ ‬7-8‭ ‬meters long.
Known locations: China,‭ ‬Guangxi Province.
Time period: Early Cretaceous.
Fossil representation: Partial post cranial remains,‭ ‬mostly of the hip bones and a dorsal‭ (‬back‭) ‬vertebra.




       Datanglong was a mid to large sized theropod dinosaur that lived in China‭ ‬during the early Cretaceous period.‭ ‬At the time of its description only the hip bones and dorsal vertebrae are known for this dinosaur,‭ ‬so we have to take a best guess as to what this dinosaur looked like.‭ ‬Unfortunately Datanglong was not named long before controversy over its identification set in.‭ ‬The original describers identified Datanglong as a carcharodontosaur,‭ ‬a type of large theropod dinosaur that was particularly common during the early Cretaceous.‭ ‬From this comparison to other carcharodontosaurs led to an estimated size of Datanglong of seven to eight meters in length.‭ ‬Soon after however another palaeontologist named Andrea Cau published a paper citing that the original cladistic analysis was too heavily focused upon basal tetanuran theropods.‭ ‬Cau then stated that the features on the Datanglong holotype share more in common with the coelurosaurs,‭ ‬and perhaps may be a megaraptoran theropod going bay the arrangement of the hip given that the features used to identify Datanglong as a carcharodontosaur are also featured within the members Megaraptora.
       Datanglong can be broken down to English as‭ ‘‬Datang dragon‭'‬,‭ ‬a reference to the Datang basin where the holotype specimen was discovered.‭ ‬The species name guangxiensis simply means‭ ‘‬from Guangxi‭'‬,‭ ‬a province in China.

Further reading
-‭ ‬A New Carcharodontosauria‭ (‬Theropoda‭) ‬from the Early Cretaceous of Guangxi,‭ ‬Southern China.-‭ ‬Acta Geologica Sinica‭ ‬1‭ (‬88‭ (‬4‭)‬.‭ ‬1051-1059‭ ‬-‭ ‬Jinyou Mo,‭ ‬Fusheng Zhou,‭ ‬Guang Ning Li,‭ ‬Zhen Hunag‭ & ‬Chenyun Cao‭ ‬-‭ ‬2014.
- Datanglong:‭ ‬un nuovo carcharodontosauriano‭? (‬Italian‭) [‬Datanlong:‭ ‬a new carcharodontosaur‭?]‬.‭ ‬Theropoda‭ ‬-‭ ‬Andrea Cau‭ ‬-‭ ‬2014.



----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Random favourites