A gigantic feathered dinosaur from the Lower Cretaceous of China (original) (raw)

Nature volume 484, pages 92–95 (2012) Cite this article

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Abstract

Numerous feathered dinosaur specimens have recently been recovered from the Middle–Upper Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous deposits of northeastern China, but most of them represent small animals1. Here we report the discovery of a gigantic new basal tyrannosauroid, Yutyrannus huali gen. et sp. nov., based on three nearly complete skeletons representing two distinct ontogenetic stages from the Lower Cretaceous Yixian Formation of Liaoning Province, China. Y. huali shares some features, particularly of the cranium, with derived tyrannosauroids2,3, but is similar to other basal tyrannosauroids4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12 in possessing a three-fingered manus and a typical theropod pes. Morphometric analysis suggests that Y. huali differed from tyrannosaurids in its growth strategy13,14. Most significantly, Y. huali bears long filamentous feathers, thus providing direct evidence for the presence of extensively feathered gigantic dinosaurs and offering new insights into early feather evolution.

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Figure 1: Yutyrannus huali (ZCDM V5000 and ZCDM V5001).

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Figure 2: Selected elements of Y. huali (ZCDM V5000, ZCDM V5001 and ELDM V1001).

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Figure 3: A simplified cladogram showing the systematic position of Y. huali among the Tyrannosauroidea.

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Acknowledgements

We thank L. Zhang for discussions, R. Li, H. Zang and X. Ding for illustrations, and H. Wang, L. Xiang and R. Cao for preparing the specimens. We thank the Zhucheng Municipal Government and Erlianhaote Municipal Government for support. This study was supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China and Special Funds For Major State Basic Research Projects of China.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Key Laboratory of Evolutionary Systematics of Vertebrates, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 142 Xiwai Street, Beijing 100044, China,
    Xing Xu, Qingyu Ma, Corwin Sullivan & Shuo Wang
  2. Liaoning Paleontological Museum, Shenyang Normal University, 253 North Huanghe Street, Shenyang 110034, China,
    Xing Xu & Dongyu Hu
  3. Zhucheng Dinosaur Museum, Zhucheng, Shandong, 262200, China
    Kebai Wang & Shuqing Cheng
  4. School of the Earth Sciences and Resources, China University of Geosciences, 28 Xueyuan Road, Beijing 100083, China,
    Ke Zhang
  5. Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, 11145 Saskatchewan Drive, Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2E9, Canada,
    Lida Xing
  6. Graduate University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 19 Yuquan Road, Beijing 100049, China,
    Shuo Wang

Authors

  1. Xing Xu
  2. Kebai Wang
  3. Ke Zhang
  4. Qingyu Ma
  5. Lida Xing
  6. Corwin Sullivan
  7. Dongyu Hu
  8. Shuqing Cheng
  9. Shuo Wang

Contributions

X.X. designed the project. X.X., K.W., K.Z., Q.M., L.X., C.S., D.H., S.C. and S.W. performed the research. X.X., C.S. and Q.M. wrote the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence toXing Xu.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Xu, X., Wang, K., Zhang, K. et al. A gigantic feathered dinosaur from the Lower Cretaceous of China.Nature 484, 92–95 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature10906

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  1. Charles Weber 5 April 2012, 22:57
    Dear Dr. Xu,
    Two legged dinosaurs are portrayed in museums and television with their bodies held horizontally and their legs vertical, as they are in your article. This is not at all possible because their center of gravity is above their hip bone (or forward of the hip when the body is horizontal). If they had attempted to walk horizontally with their legs vertical they would have toppled forward. Almost certainly they walked almost erect often with the tail held aloft in order to prevent tripping by thrusting it back and to prevent an assailant from jumping on their back. To see a discussion of this see http://charles_w.tripod.com... . If you see any errors in it, please let me know. You may also see an explanation why vertebrate size, extent of bone, and teeth declined during the Cretaceous on the savannas in http://www.angelfire.com/nc... as caused by a phosphorus famine produced by Amitermitinae plant smothering termites.
    Sincerely, Charles Weber

Editorial Summary

T. rex's giant feathered friends

Tyrannosaurus rex and its gigantic cousins lived at the close of the Cretaceous period, around 70 million years ago. Earlier relatives were thought to have been much smaller than T. rex, but recent finds from the early Cretaceous of China have had body lengths of up to 10 metres. Three 125-million-year-old specimens of a new tyrannosauroid species from China add a twist to this story: not only were the creatures large (the adult may have weighed around 1,400 kg), but they were also feathered. This basal tyrannosauroid is the largest feathered creature known, living or extinct, and raises interesting questions about dinosaur development and metabolism.