Qianzhousaurus

What it was like

Qianzhousaurus was a tyrannosaur with an unusually long, narrow snout, quite different from the short, deep skulls of relatives such as Tyrannosaurus and Tarbosaurus. It belongs to a small group called the alioramins, tyrannosaurs known for this slender build of skull, alongside its closest relative, Alioramus. Beyond its distinctive skull shape, its size and proportions are not well documented.

Its world

Qianzhousaurus was part of the tyrannosaurid family, the same group of large predatory dinosaurs that includes Tyrannosaurus, Tarbosaurus, Albertosaurus, and Gorgosaurus. Like other alioramins, it lived in Asia during the Late Cretaceous, though the precise place and time of its own fossil finds are not well established in the available record.

How it was found

Lü and colleagues named Qianzhousaurus in 2014. Its long, narrow snout, unusual among tyrannosaurs, remains its most distinctive and best documented feature, and continues to shape how paleontologists think about the variety of skull shapes tyrannosaurs evolved.