A Paradoxical Dinosaur

The confusing nature of the small Chinese dinosaur Dilong paradoxus is probably one of the smallest dinosaurs that could have been referred to as the "Emperor's Dragon." Originally described as an early ceratosaurid tyrannosauroid Dilong is certainly a paradox. More recent descriptions of the small dinosaur have removed the proceratosaur title from the descriptive taxonomy of Dilong. Both hypothesized phylogenies place Dilong as a predecessor, an ancestor potentially, to the line leading up to Tyrannosaurus. Dilong also has the distinction of being one of the clearest visible feathered fossils that has been recovered. The original fossil is a very detailed composition of the death of this wonderful, but unfortunate dinosaur.

Type Specimen ©Kabacchi