Open Paleo

Zhanghenglong

Xing et al., 2014 jahng-huhng-long

Named after Zhang Heng, the first-century Chinese scientist, combined with Mandarin long (龙), meaning 'dragon'; thus 'Zhang Heng's dragon'

85.7–83.6 million years ago Santonian, Late Cretaceous
Late Cretaceous stages

Zhanghenglong is an extinct genus of herbivorous hadrosauroid iguanodont dinosaur known from the Late Cretaceous (middle Santonian stage) Majiacun Formation in Xixia County of Henan Province, China. It contains a single species, Zhanghenglong yangchengensis, represented by a disarticulated and partial cranium and postcranial skeleton.

Diagnosis

  1. Posterior third of maxilla strongly deflected posteroventrally relative to anterior two-thirds
  2. Dentary tooth crowns with both median and distally offset primary ridges
  3. Five maxillary foramina (four small scattered ones and one large one)
  4. Markedly convex dorsally maxillary and dentary occlusal surfaces
  5. Relatively long, well-developed ectopterygoid ridge
  6. Laterally exposed large anterior foramen in anterior half of anterodorsal surface of maxilla

Species

Zhanghenglong yangchengensis Xing et al., 2014

Type species

Named for Yangcheng, an administrative unit during the Eastern Zhou dynasty that partially coincides with present-day Henan Province, China, where the fossil was found.

Holotype
XMDFEC V0013 , Xixia Museum of Dinosaur Fossil Eggs of China
Material
Incomplete, disarticulated cranium including nearly complete right maxilla, partial right jugal and dentary
Horizon
middle Majiacun Formation, Santonian, Late Cretaceous , 85.7–83.6 million years ago
Locality
Zhoujiagou Village, Henan, China

References

  1. Xing, H.; Wang, D.; Han, F.; Sullivan, C.; Ma, Q.; He, Y.; Hone, D. W. E.; Yan, R.; Du, F.; Xu, X. (2014). A New Basal Hadrosauroid Dinosaur (Dinosauria: Ornithopoda) with Transitional Features from the Late Cretaceous of Henan Province, China. PLoS ONE 9(6): e98821. Public Library of Science (PLoS). doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0098821 xing2014a
  2. Jones, B. (2026). The Princeton Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs: Ornithischians. Princeton University Press.

    Source of the body length estimate.

    jones2026a