Asian coelophysis fossils first revealed! Small but powerful "pioneer predator"

Editor's note: In the long history of life on Earth, dinosaurs were once the dominant species on Earth. In 1995, a young farmer dug up the world's largest Jurassic dinosaur cemetery at Dinosaur Mountain in Chuanjie, Lufeng, Chuxiong, Yunnan. The cemetery covers an area of ​​10,000 square meters and contains dinosaur fossils and associated animal fossils from the early, middle and late Jurassic periods. This is a real "Jurassic World" that existed between 190 million and 140 million years ago.

The Yunnan learning platform of "Study to Make China Strong" jointly with the Chuxiong learning platform of "Study to Make China Strong" and Lufeng Media launched the "Dinosaur Research Institute" series of planning, taking you into the "Jurassic World" to explore the past and present lives of dinosaurs.

In 2007, paleontologists discovered a small carnivorous dinosaur fossil from the same period as Lufengosaurus in the Early Jurassic strata in Dinosaur Mountain Town, Lufeng City, Chuxiong Yi Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province. After research and demonstration by archaeologists, the fossil was finally determined to be a new genus and species of coelophysis dinosaur. Researcher You Hailu of the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and others named it "Lufeng Panaraptor". This is the first discovery of a coelophysis fossil in Asia.

The Lufeng Pankoraptor is about 2 meters long, 50 centimeters high at the hips, and weighs about 60 kilograms. Its holotype preserves a relatively complete head and postcranial bones, and is a nearly complete and nearly adult individual. Because the place where the fossil was excavated was called Panlong Town (now Dinosaur Mountain Town) in ancient times, and the dinosaur was extremely predatory, it was named Lufeng Pankoraptor.

Although the Lufeng Pangoraptor is small and inconspicuous, before it was discovered and named, the only coelophysis traces in Asia (excluding India) were two limb fragments belonging to the same individual. In contrast, the amazing completeness of the Lufeng Pangoraptor fossils plays the same role in the creation of the world as its name, "Pangu".

Like most coelophysis dinosaurs, Lufeng Pancharaptor had very sharp teeth and claws, and its hind legs were slender and powerful, which allowed it to prey and run quickly. Its neck and tail were particularly long, and it looked like a modern ostrich. Its mouth was beak-like, and it had conical, small, and dense teeth on the edge, which made it easy to tear its prey into pieces. Lufeng Pancharaptor mainly preyed on small animals like lizards or fish, and was a small carnivorous dinosaur among the theropods.

The fossil of Pancharaptor is the first discovery of this family of fossils in Asia (there are relatively detailed records of coelophysis dinosaurs in America and Africa), which is of great significance for studying the evolution and distribution of this type of dinosaur, and even the evolution of early theropod dinosaurs. At present, the fossil skeleton of Pancharaptor in Lufeng is on display at the Lufeng Dinosaur Science Education Base.