Xiongguanlong
From Chinese 'Xiong Guan' meaning 'grand pass', referring to Jiayuguan City (historically called Xiong Guan), and Chinese 'long' meaning 'dragon'.
Xiongguanlong is an extinct genus of tyrannosauroid theropod from the Early Cretaceous period of what is now China. The type and only species is X. baimoensis. The generic name comes from Jiayuguan City (formerly called "Xiong Guan" or "grand pass") and the Mandarin word "long" which means dragon. The specific epithet, "baimoensis" is a latinization of the Mandarin word for "white ghost" in reference to one of the geological features of the type locality (nicknamed the "White Ghost Castle").
Diagnosis
- Uniquely elongate preorbital region reaching over two-thirds of skull length
- Narrow and elongate muzzle resembling that of Alioramus
- Slender, unornamented nasals lacking dorsal rugosities and vaulting
- Narrow and mediolaterally compressed maxillary tooth crowns bearing serrations
- Single pair of pneumatic foramina on each cervical (unlike double pairs in derived taxa)
- Mediolaterally constricted anterior dorsal centra
Species
Xiongguanlong baimoensis Li et al., 2010
Type species
Named for the 'White Ghost Castle' (Mandarin 'baimo'), the nickname of the type locality in the Yujingzi Basin of Gansu, China.
- Holotype
- FRDC-GS JB16-2-1 , 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
- Complete skull without lower jaws, complete presacral vertebral series, partial right ilium, and right femur
- Horizon
- upper Xiagou Formation, Aptian, Early Cretaceous , 121.4–113.2 million years ago
- Locality
- White Ghost Castle, Gansu, China
References
- Li, D.; Norell, M. A.; Gao, K. Q.; Smith, N. D.; Makovicky, P. J. (2010). A longirostrine tyrannosauroid from the Early Cretaceous of China. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 277(1679): 183-190. The Royal Society. doi:10.1098/rspb.2009.0249 li2010d
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Jones, B. (2026). The Princeton Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs: Theropods. Princeton University Press.
Source of the hip height estimate, and the appearance features.
jones2026c -
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 to the uppermost Xiagou Formation by carbon-isotope chemostratigraphy, confirming the correlation earlier work had offered as a working hypothesis.
suarez2018a