Caihong
From Mandarin Chinese caihong (彩虹) meaning 'rainbow', likely referring to its iridescent feather coloration as inferred from melanosomes.
Late Jurassic stages
Caihong is a genus of small paravian theropod dinosaur from China that lived during the Late Jurassic period.
Diagnosis
- Accessory fenestra posteroventral to the promaxillary fenestra in the maxilla
- Lacrimal with prominent dorsolaterally oriented crests (robust, horn-shaped fourth process projecting laterally then curving dorsally)
- Robust dentary with anterior tip dorsoventrally deeper than its midsection
- Short ilium (<50% of femoral length, compared to considerably >50% in other theropods)
- Forelimb proportionally short (~60% hindlimb length) yet forearm bones (ulna and radius) longer than humerus
- Tail feathers with asymmetrical vanes on mid-series rectrices forming a broad tail surface area; caudal series only ~2.5× femoral length
Species
Caihong juji Hu et al., 2018
Type species
From Chinese 'ju ji', meaning 'big crest', in reference to the large crest on the lacrimal bone of the skull.
- Holotype
- PMoL-B00175 , Paleontological Museum of Liaoning
- Material
- Nearly complete skeleton with associated plumage preserved on a slab and counter slab.
- Horizon
- Tiaojishan Formation, Oxfordian, Late Jurassic , 161.5–154.8 million years ago
- Locality
- Nanshimenzi, Gangou, Hebei, China
References
- Hu, D.; Clarke, J. A.; Eliason, C. M.; Qiu, R.; Li, Q.; Shawkey, M. D.; Zhao, C.; D'Alba, L.; Jiang, J.; Xu, X. (2018). A bony-crested Jurassic dinosaur with evidence of iridescent plumage highlights complexity in early paravian evolution. Nature Communications 9(1). Springer Science and Business Media LLC. doi:10.1038/s41467-017-02515-y hu2018a
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Jones, B. (2026). The Princeton Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs: Theropods. Princeton University Press.
Source of the body length, mass, and hip height estimates, and the appearance features.
jones2026c