Daliansaurus
genus of reptiles (fossil)
Daliansaurus (meaning "Dalian reptile") is a genus of small troodontid theropod dinosaur, measuring approximately 1 metre (3 ft 3 in) long, from the Early Cretaceous of China. It contains a single species, D. liaoningensis, named in 2017 by Shen and colleagues from a nearly complete skeleton preserved in three dimensions. Daliansaurus is unusual in possessing an enlarged claw on the fourth digit of the foot, in addition to the "sickle claw" found on the second digit of the feet of most paravians. It also has long metatarsal bones, and apparently possesses bird-like uncinate processes (a first among troodontids). In the Lujiatun Beds of the Yixian Formation, a volcanically-influenced region with a cold climate, Daliansaurus lived alongside its closest relatives - Sinovenator, Sinusonasus, and Mei, with which it forms the group Sinovenatorinae.
Description
Daliansaurus is a small, lightly-built, and most likely feathered troodontid measuring approximately 1 metre (3 ft 3 in) in length, similar in size to Sinovenator and Sinusonasus. Typical of mature troodontids, the neural arches are fused to the vertebral centra in the dorsal (trunk) vertebrae of the only known specimen. Overall, Daliansaurus is very similar to Sinovenator, Sinusonasus, and Mei, its closest relatives, but differs from them in subtle ways.
Skull and vertebrae
The skull of Daliansaurus, which measures 13.8 centimetres (5.4 in) long, is proportionally larger than that of Mei. Daliansaurus also has a smaller nostril.
The public source identifies “Daliansaurus” as genus of reptiles (fossil). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Daliansaurus, genus and reptiles.
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This entry incorporates text from “Daliansaurus” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.