Beishanlong
From Chinese Bei Shan meaning 'North Mountains' combined with Chinese long (龙) meaning 'dragon'. Full meaning: 'North Mountains dragon'.
Beishanlong is a genus of giant ornithomimosaurian theropod dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous of China. It is the second-largest ornithomimosaur discovered, only surpassed by the related Deinocheirus.
Under dispute
The family-level placement of Beishanlong is unresolved. Lee and colleagues (2014) recovered it as the basalmost member of Deinocheiridae, but Serrano-Brañas and colleagues (2020) instead recovered it as a basal ornithomimosaur outside the family. It is placed conservatively at Ornithomimosauria.
Diagnosis
- Notched anterior caudal neural spine apex, unique to this taxon
- Keeled midcaudal centra with divided neural spines and prominent ridges connecting pre- and postzygapophyses
- Scapula with pronounced fossa at rostral end of supraglenoid buttress
- Shallow coracoid with prominent lateral ridge emanating from coracoid tuber and deep notch between glenoid and postglenoid process
- Curved pollex ungual but markedly straighter unguals on digits II and III
- Curved ischial shaft with rostro-ventrally recurved sigmoid profile
Species
Beishanlong grandis Makovicky et al., 2010
Type species
From Latin 'grandis' meaning 'large', in reference to the body size of this giant ornithomimosaur.
- Holotype
- FRDC-GS GJ (06) 01-18 , The Fossil Research and Development Center of the Third Geology and Mineral Resources Exploration Academy of Gansu Provincial Bureau of Geo-exploration and Mineral Development
- Material
- Associated partial postcranial skeleton.
- Horizon
- upper Xiagou Formation, Aptian, Early Cretaceous , 121.4–113.2 million years ago
- Locality
- White Ghost Castle, Gansu, China
References
- Makovicky, P. J.; Li, D.; Gao, K. Q.; Lewin, M.; Erickson, G. M.; Norell, M. A. (2010). A giant ornithomimosaur from the Early Cretaceous of China. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 277(1679): 191-198. The Royal Society. doi:10.1098/rspb.2009.0236 makovicky2010a
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Jones, B. (2026). The Princeton Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs: Theropods. Princeton University Press.
Source of the hip height estimate.
jones2026c -
Lee, Y. N.; Barsbold, R.; Currie, P. J.; Kobayashi, Y.; Lee, H. J.; Godefroit, P.; Escuillié, F. O.; Chinzorig, T. (2014). Resolving the long-standing enigmas of a giant ornithomimosaur Deinocheirus mirificus. Nature 515(7526): 257-260. doi:10.1038/nature13874
Resolved ornithomimosaur relationships, recovering Beishanlong as basalmost Deinocheiridae.
lee2014a -
Serrano-Brañas, C. I.; Espinosa-Chávez, B.; Maccracken, S. A.; Gutiérrez-Blando, C.; de León-Dávila, C.; Ventura, J. F. (2020). Paraxenisaurus normalensis, a large deinocheirid ornithomimosaur from the Cerro del Pueblo Formation (Upper Cretaceous), Coahuila, Mexico. Journal of South American Earth Sciences 101. Elsevier BV. doi:10.1016/j.jsames.2020.102610
Description of Paraxenisaurus recovered Beishanlong as a basal ornithomimosaur outside Deinocheiridae.
serrano-brañas2020a -
Suarez, M. B.; Milder, T.; Peng, N.; Suarez, C. A.; You, H.; Li, D.; Dodson, P. (2018). Chemostratigraphy of the Lower Cretaceous dinosaur-bearing Xiagou and Zhonggou formations, Yujingzi Basin, northwest China. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 38(sup1): 12-21. doi:10.1080/02724634.2018.1510412
Assigns the gray-variegated beds of the Yujingzi Basin to the uppermost Xiagou Formation.
suarez2018a