Qianzhousaurus

Qianzhousaurus is a genus of coelurosaurian theropod dinosaurs. So far only one species has been named: the type species Qianzhousaurus sinensis.[1] Nicknamed 'Pinocchio rex' for its long snout in comparison to other known tyrannosaurs, it was discovered in southern China and first published in the journal Nature Communications in May 2014.[2]

Qianzhousaurus Temporal range: Late Cretaceous, ~67–66 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
Restored skull cast at Japan
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Clade:	Dinosauria
Clade:	Saurischia
Clade:	Theropoda
Family:	†Tyrannosauridae
Subfamily:	†Tyrannosaurinae
Tribe:	†Alioramini
Genus:	†Qianzhousaurus Lü et al., 2014
Type species
†Qianzhousaurus sinensis Lü et al., 2014

Apart from its signature snout, it also had long, narrow teeth, while T. rex had thick teeth and powerful, deep-set jaws. This suggest its feeding method and probably its life-style were quite different from Tyrannosaurus. The thinner teeth and lighter skeleton of Qianzhousaurus suggest it hunted smaller creatures, such as lizards and feathered dinosaurs.[3][4]

The bones were discovered by workmen at a construction site near the city of Ganzhou, who then took them to a local museum.[4]

The discovery of Qianzhousaurus, and Alioramus from Mongolia, shows that the long-snouted tyrannosaurids were widespread in Asia. Although we are only starting to learn about them, they were apparently one of the main groups of predatory dinosaurs in Asia.[5] Their existence was previously suspected because of various scattered fossil finds. An expert says the find "tells us pretty unequivocally that these long-snouted tyrannosaurs were a real thing. They were a different breed, living right to the end of the age of dinosaurs".[6]