Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Letter
  • Published:

A gigantic bird-like dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous of China

Abstract

An evolutionary trend of decreasing size is present along the line to birds in coelurosaurian theropod evolution1,2, but size increases are seen in many coelurosaurian subgroups, in which large forms are less bird-like2,3. Here we report on a new non-avian dinosaur, Gigantoraptor erlianensis, gen. et sp. nov., from the Late Cretaceous Iren Dabasu Formation of Nei Mongol, China. Although it has a body mass of about 1,400 kg, a phylogenetic analysis positions this new taxon within the Oviraptorosauria, a group of small, feathered theropods rarely exceeding 40 kg in body mass2,4,5,6,7. A histological analysis suggests that Gigantoraptor gained this size by a growth rate considerably faster than large North American tyrannosaurs such as Albertosaurus and Gorgosaurus8. Gigantoraptor possesses several salient features previously unknown in any other dinosaur and its hind limb bone scaling and proportions are significantly different from those of other coelurosaurs9,10, thus increasing the morphological diversity among dinosaurs. Most significantly, the gigantic Gigantoraptor shows many bird-like features absent in its smaller oviraptorosaurian relatives, unlike the evolutionary trend seen in many other coelurosaurian subgroups2,3.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Skeletal anatomy of Gigantoraptor holotype (LH V0011).
Figure 2: Photograph of transverse thin section of the fibular mid-shaft of Gigantoraptor holotype (LH V0011) under a polarized scope.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Carrano, M. T. in Amniote Paleobiology: Perspectives on the Evolution of Mammals, Birds, and Reptiles (eds Carrano, M. T., Gaudin, T. J., Blob, R. W. & Wible, J. R.) 225–269 (Univ. Chicago Press, Chicago, 2006)

    Google Scholar 

  2. Sereno, P. C. The evolution of dinosaurs. Science 284, 2137–2147 (1999)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Xu, X. & Norell, M. A. A new troodontid from China with avian-like sleeping posture. Nature 431, 838–841 (2004)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Makovicky, P. J. & Norell, M. A. in The Dinosauria 2nd edn (eds Weishampel, D. B., Dodson, P. & Osmólska, H.) 184–195 (Univ. California Press, Berkeley, 2004)

    Book  Google Scholar 

  5. Barsbold, R. On a new Late Cretaceous family of small theropods (Oviraptoridae fam. n.) of Mongolia. Dokl. Akad. Nauk SSSR 226, 685–688 (1976)

    Google Scholar 

  6. Ji, Q., Currie, P. J., Norell, M. A. & Ji, S.-A. Two feathered dinosaur from China. Nature 393, 753–761 (1998)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  7. Zanno, L. E. & Sampson, S. D. A new oviraptorosaur (Theropoda, Maniraptora) from the Late Cretaceous (Campanian) of Utah. J. Vert. Paleont. 25, 897–904 (2005)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Erickson, G. M. et al. Gigantism and comparative life-history parameters of tyrannosaurid dinosaurs. Nature 430, 772–775 (2004)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Holtz, T. R. The arctometatarsalian pes, an unusual structure of the metatarsus of Cretaceous Theropoda (Dinosauria: Saurischia). J. Vert. Paleont. 14, 480–519 (1994)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Christiansen, P. Long bone scaling and limb posture in non-avian theropods: evidence for differential allometry. J. Vert. Paleont. 19, 666–680 (1999)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Currie, P. J. & Eberth, D. A. Palaeontology, sedimentology and palaeoecology of the Iren Dabasu formation (Upper Cretaceous), inner Mongolia, People's Republic of China. Cretaceous Res. 14, 127–144 (1993)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Maryańska, T., Osmólska, H. & Wolsan, M. Avialan status for Oviraptorosauria. Acta Palaeontol. Pol. 47, 97–116 (2002)

    Google Scholar 

  13. Osmólska, H., Currie, P. J. & Barsbold, R. in The Dinosauria 2nd edn (eds Weishampel, D. B., Dodson, P. & Osmólska, H.) 165–183 (Univ. California Press, Berkeley, 2004)

    Book  Google Scholar 

  14. Clark, J. A., Norell, M. A. & Rowe, T. Cranial anatomy of Citipati osmolskae (Theropoda, Oviraptorosauria), and a reinterpretation of the holotype of Oviraptor philoceratops. Am. Mus. Novit. 3364, 1–24 (2002)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Currie, P. J. & Godfery, S. J. New caenagnathid (Dinosauria: Theropoda) specimens from the Upper Cretaceous of north America and Asia. Can. J. Earth Sci. 30, 2255–2272 (1993)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  16. Sues, H.-D. On Chirostenotes, a Late Cretaceous oviraptorosaur (Dinosauria: Theropoda) from western North America. J. Vert. Paleont. 17, 698–716 (1997)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Upchurch, P. Evolutionary history of sauropod Dinosaurs. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. B 349, 365–390 (1995)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  18. Chiappe, L. M. Late Cretaceous birds of southern South America: anatomy and systematics of enantiornithes and Patagopteryx deferrariisi. Munch. Geowiss. Abh 30, 203–244 (1996)

    Google Scholar 

  19. Norell, M. A., Clark, J. M. & Makovicky, P. J. in New Perspectives on the Origin and Evolution of Birds (eds Gauthier, J. & Gall, L. F.) 49–67 (Yale Univ. Press, New Haven, 2001)

    Google Scholar 

  20. Chinsamy-Turan, A. The Microstructure of Dinosaur Bone (Johns Hopkins Univ. Press, Baltimore/London, 2005)

    Google Scholar 

  21. Horner, J. R. & Padian, K. Age and growth dynamics of Tyrannosaurus rex. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B 271, 1875–1880 (2004)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Sander, M. P. et al. Adaptive radiation in sauropod dinosaurs: bone histology indicates rapid evolution of giant body size through acceleration. Org. Divers. Evol. 4, 165–173 (2004)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Xu, X. & Norell, M. A. Non-avian dinosaur fossils from the Lower Cretaceous Jehol Group of western Liaoning, China. Geol. J. 41, 419–438 (2006)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Senter, P., Barsbold, R., Britt, B. B. & Burnham, D. A. Systematics and evolution of Dromaeosauridae (Dinosauria, theropoda). Bull. Gunma Mus. Nat. Hist. 8, 1–20 (2004)

    Google Scholar 

  25. Spinage, C. Elephants (T. & A. D. Poyser Led, London, 1994)

    Google Scholar 

  26. Xu, X. et al. Basal tyrannosauroids from China and evidence for protofeathers in tyrannosauroids. Nature 431, 680–684 (2004)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  27. Makovicky, P. J. & Sues, H.-D. Anatomy and phylogenetic relationships of the theropod dinosaur Microvenator celer from the Lower Cretaceous of Montanta. Am. Mus. Novit. 3240, 1–27 (1998)

    Google Scholar 

  28. Gatesy, S. M. Hind limb scaling in birds and other theropods: implications for terrestrial locomotion. J. Morphol. 209, 83–96 (1991)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Hwang, S. H., Norell, M. A., Ji, Q. & Gao, K. New specimens of Microraptor zhaoianus (Theropoda: Dromaeosauridae) from northeastern China. Am. Mus. Novit. 3381, 1–44 (2002)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Currie, P. J. Possible evidence of gregarious behavior in tyrannosaurids. Gaia 15, 271–277 (1998)

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We thank A. Chinsamy-Turan and G. M. Erickson for discussions on bone histology and critical comments on the histological section, J. A. Clark for comments on the mansuscript, the technicians of the Long Hao Institute of Geology and Paleontology for contributions in the field and for preparation of fossil materials, R.-S. Li and W.-D. Zhang of the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology for drawings and photography. X.X’s work is supported by grants from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the National Natural Science Fondation of China, and the American Museum of Natural History. The fieldwork was supported by grants from the Ministry of Land and Resources PRC and the Department of Land and Resources of Nei Mongol.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Xing Xu.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

Reprints and permissions information is available at www.nature.com/reprints. The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Supplementary information

Supplementary Information 1

This file contains Supplementary Notes, Supplementary Figures 1-2 and additional references. (PDF 187 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Xu, X., Tan, Q., Wang, J. et al. A gigantic bird-like dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous of China. Nature 447, 844–847 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature05849

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nature05849

This article is cited by

Comments

By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing