The world of paleontology is abuzz these couple of months over several discoveries from the rich fossil beds of China - three new genera of Lower Cretaceous dinosaurs have been uncovered: Xiongguanlong, Beishanlong, and Tianyulong (what's up with all the longs, any way?); a tyrannosauroid, ornithomimosaur, and heterodontosaur, respectively. These three are quite important in modern dinosaur science, for reasons explained here. Firstly, Xiongguanlong is yet another of that important branch of dinosaurs which eventually led up to the great Tyrant himself, the fabled T. rex. This long-snouted primitive tyrannosaur has garnered the coining of a new 'main-stream' nickname for the early rex wannabes: "despots", just one step below a proper tyrant. Secondly, an interesting, though regrettably incomplete, skeleton has been found of Beishanlong, a large ornithomimosaur. Though known only from arms and a few fragments, it is estimated to be the largest ornithomimosaur found to date, excluding possibly Deinocheirus, the mysterious theropod known only from a pair of six-foot arms. Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, is Tianyulong, a heterodontosaur which has (gasp!) feathery body coverings. You heard me! Feather science as we know it has been turned on its head by this discovery, which could possibly mean that the common ancestor of ornithischian (bird-hips, e.g. Triceratops, Parasaurolophus, Ankylosaurus, Stegosaurus) and saurischian (lizard-hips, e.g. Tyrannosaurus, Velociraptor, Plateosaurus, Apatosaurus) dinosaurs had feathers, which, by extension, puts forward the possibility that most, if not all dinosaurs, would have had at least some feathers on their bodies at some point in their lives. Though hints of this were heard when the ceratopsian Psittacosaurus was found with feather-like bristles a few years back, only now are we starting to get clues that dinos were a bit fuzzier than we previously thought. Keep your eyes peeled in the coming years for downy brachiosaurs and fluffy stegosaurs.
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