''Wulatelong'' is an

extinct Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

of basal

oviraptorid Oviraptoridae is a group of bird-like, herbivorous and omnivorous maniraptoran dinosaurs. Oviraptorids are characterized by their toothless, parrot-like beaks and, in some cases, elaborate crests. They were generally small, measuring between one ...

dinosaur Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the evolution of dinosaurs is t ...

known from the

Late Cretaceous The Late Cretaceous (100.5–66 Ma) is the younger of two epochs into which the Cretaceous Period is divided in the geologic time scale. Rock strata from this epoch form the Upper Cretaceous Series. The Cretaceous is named after ''creta'', the ...

Wulansuhai Formation The Bayan Mandahu Formation (also known as Wulansuhai Formation or Wuliangsuhai Formation) is a geological unit of "redbeds" located near the village of Bayan Mandahu in Inner Mongolia, China Asia (Gobi Desert) and dates from the late Cretaceous P ...

(

Campanian The Campanian is the fifth of six ages of the Late Cretaceous Epoch on the geologic timescale of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS). In chronostratigraphy, it is the fifth of six stages in the Upper Cretaceous Series. Campanian s ...

stage) of Bayan Mandahu,

Linhe District Linhe ( mn, ; ) is the only district and the seat of the city of Baynnur, Inner Mongolia, situated at the northern loop of the Yellow River, south of the Lang Shan range ( south-east of the Huhebashige). The district spans an area of 2,333 squ ...

Inner Mongolia Inner Mongolia, officially the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China. Its border includes most of the length of China's border with the country of Mongolia. Inner Mongolia also accounts for a ...

, northern

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. It contains a single

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

, ''Wulatelong gobiensis''.

History

The fossils of ''Wulatelong'', representing a single nearly-complete skeleton, now cataloged IVPP V 18409, were discovered in 2009 in the

Bayan Mandahu The Bayan Mandahu Formation (also known as Wulansuhai Formation or Wuliangsuhai Formation) is a geological unit of "redbeds" located near the village of Bayan Mandahu in Inner Mongolia, China Asia ( Gobi Desert) and dates from the late Cretaceous ...

area of Wulatehouqi, Inner Mongolia, a fossil-rich area which has yielded many recent dinosaur discoveries. The authors of the paper describing ''Wulatelong'' had previously described the dromaeosaurid ''

Linheraptor ''Linheraptor'' is a genus of dromaeosaurid dinosaur which lived in what is now China in the Late Cretaceous. It was named by Xu Xing and colleagues in 2010, and contains the species ''Linheraptor exquisitus''. This bird-like dinosaur was less ...

'' (2010), the alvarezsaurid ''

Linhenykus ''Linhenykus'' is an extinct genus of alvarezsaurid theropod dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous of Inner Mongolia, China. It is the most basal known member of the Parvicursorinae. The genus gets its name from Linhe, a city near the site where th ...

'' (2011), and the troodontid ''

Linhevenator ''Linhevenator'' is a genus of short-armed troodontid theropod dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous (Campanian) Bayan Mandahu Formation of Bayan Mandahu, Inner Mongolia, China. Discovery The type species ''Linhevenator tani'' was named and descri ...

'' (2011). ''Wulatelong'' was described by Xu ''et al.'' in 2013. The generic name derives from ''Wulate'', where the fossils were discovered, and ''long'', the Chinese word for "dragon". The specific name, ''gobiensis'', refers to the

Gobi Desert The Gobi Desert (Chinese: 戈壁 (沙漠), Mongolian: Говь (ᠭᠣᠪᠢ)) () is a large desert or brushland region in East Asia, and is the sixth largest desert in the world. Geography The Gobi measures from southwest to northeast an ...

Classification

''Wulatelong'' is an

dinosaur, the sister taxon of ''

Banji ''Banji'' is an extinct genus of oviraptorid dinosaur that lived approximately 66 million years ago during the later part of the Cretaceous Period in what is now China. It was a small, lightly-built, ground-dwelling, bipedal carnivore, that w ...

''. Oviraptorids were bird-like, herbivorous and omnivorous

theropod Theropoda (; ), whose members are known as theropods, is a dinosaur clade that is characterized by hollow bones and three toes and claws on each limb. Theropods are generally classed as a group of saurischian dinosaurs. They were ancestrally c ...

s characterized by toothless, parrot-like beaks, and often elaborate crests. They are known only from the Late Cretaceous of Asia. Wulatelong skull

Paleoecology

''Wulatelong'' shared their habitat in the Bayan Mandahu with a number of other dinosaurian fauna. These included the ceratopsians ''

Protoceratops ''Protoceratops'' (; ) is a genus of small protoceratopsid dinosaurs that lived in Asia during the Late Cretaceous, around 75 to 71 million years ago. The genus ''Protoceratops'' includes two species: ''P. andrewsi'' and the larger ''P. hellenik ...

'' and '' Magnirostris'', the ankylosaurian ''

Pinacosaurus ''Pinacosaurus'' (meaning "Plank lizard") is a genus of ankylosaurid thyreophoran dinosaur that lived in Asia during the Late Cretaceous (Santonian-Campanian, roughly 75 million to 71 million years ago), mainly in Mongolia and China. The first r ...

'', and a number of other theropods: the dromaeosaurids ''

Velociraptor ''Velociraptor'' (; ) is a genus of small dromaeosaurid dinosaur that lived in Asia during the Late Cretaceous epoch, about 75 million to 71 million years ago. Two species are currently recognized, although others have been assigned in the pa ...

'', ‘’

Papiliovenator ''Papiliovenator'' (meaning "butterfly hunter", after a butterfly-shaped feature on its first two dorsal vertebrae) is a genus of troodontid theropod dinosaur from the Bayan Mandahu Formation of Inner Mongolia, China. The type and only species i ...

’’ and ''

'', the oviraptorosaurian ''

Machairasaurus ''Machairasaurus'' is a genus of oviraptorid dinosaur which was found in the Bayan Mandahu Formation, China, dating to the late Cretaceous period. Discovery During the Sino-Canadian expeditions of 1988 and 1990 some skeletons of unknown ovirap ...

'', the alvarezsauroid ''

'', and the troodontid ''

''. The authors of the paper describing ''Wulatelong'' concluded that the Bayan Mandahu fauna "differs fundamentally in composition from the classical Djadokhta fauna, perhaps because of a difference in age" or due to environmental factors.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q12973051 Late Cretaceous dinosaurs of Asia Oviraptorids Fossil taxa described in 2013 Taxa named by Xu Xing Paleontology in Inner Mongolia

History

Classification

Paleoecology

See also

References