page_title: Tongtianlong
section_title: Description
hierarchical_section_title: Tongtianlong / Description
caption_attribution_description: English: The photograph (a) and line drawing (b) of the skull: Tongtianlong limosus gen. et sp. nov. in right lateral view. Abbreviations: aof, antorbital fenestra; bc, braincase; d, dentary; emf, external mandibular fenestra; eo, exoccipital; f, frontal; j, jugal; l, lacrimal; ltf: lower temporal fenestra; m, maxilla; n, nasal;nar, narial opening; npc, nasopharyngeal canal; o, orbit; p, parietal; pm, premaxilla; pno, pneumatic opening; po, postorbital;q, quadrate;qj, quadratojugal; sa, surangular; sq, squamosal; stf, supratemporal fenestra. Scale bar = 5 cm. Modified from the original image for Wikipedia.
context_page_description: Tongtianlong is a genus of oviraptorid theropod dinosaurs that lived in the late Maastrichtian epoch of the late Cretaceous period. It contains one species, T. limosus.
context_section_description: Tongtianlong was a sheep-sized member of the oviraptorids, a group of omnivorous, feathered, bird-like theropods. The describers of Tongtianlong recognized that it possessed a set of distinctive characteristics that differentiated it both from other oviraptorosaurs. In particular, unlike other oviraptorids, the crest of Tongtianlong was shaped like a dome, with its highest point just behind the eye socket; and the front edge of the toothless premaxilla, which would have supported its beak, was very rounded.
  Additionally, there is a distinct ridge on the front margin of the parietal bone, wedged between the frontal bones; the shaft of the lacrimal bone, which is located in front of the eye socket, is wide, flattened, and plate-like seen from the side; the foramen magnum (a hole in the back of the skull) is smaller than the occipital condyle (the boss forming the skull-neck joint); there is no ridge on the bottom of the front lower jaws, which is also not strongly downturned; and the xiphoid process does not flare out from the sternum behind the ribs. Other characteristics of the skull separate Tongtianlong from its contemporaries; for instance, the nostril is situated much higher than the antorbital fenestra, a trait seen otherwise only in Nemegtomaia and Rinchenia.
caption: Skull of Tongtianlong limosus
exif: {}