Daurlong

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Daurlong is an extinct dromaeosaurid dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous of China. The only species, Daurlong wangi, is known from a nearly complete skeleton found in the Longjiang Formation in Inner Mongolia, dating to the Aptian age about 121 million years ago.

The holotype, IMMNH-PV00731, includes a nearly complete individual with a well-preserved skull. A small frog (anuran) skeleton was also preserved on the same block. In 2022, Xuri Wang and colleagues described Daurlong as a new genus and species. The name Daurlong means “Daur dragon,” combining the Daur Nation reference with the Chinese word for dragon, and the species name wangi honors Wang Junyou, director of the Inner Mongolia Museum of Natural History.

Daurlong was a mid-sized dromaeosaurid, about 1.5 meters (roughly 4.9 feet) long. The preserved specimen is about 85% the size of the Tianyuraptor holotype and 93% the size of the Zhenyuanlong holotype. Its skull is about 94% the length of the femur, and the forelimbs are less than 60% the length of the hindlimbs. Plumage is preserved along the back of the skull and neck and along the edges of the tail, but it does not show pennaceous wing feathers as seen in Zhenyuanlong. A bluish layer in the ribcage matches the intestinal tract and is interpreted as preserved intestines, similar to Scipionyx.

Phylogenetic analyses place Daurlong within Dromaeosauridae, in a clade with Tianyuraptor and Zhenyuanlong. This makes it one of the closest relatives of birds among predatory dinosaurs, and it marks the first described instance of a preserved intestinal region in a theropod closely related to birds.