Qianjiangsaurus
A hadrosauroid dinosaur with a convergent hollow crest from Late Cretaceous China.
Qianjiangsaurus, meaning "Qianjiang lizard," is a genus of hadrosauroid ornithopod dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous Zhengyang Formation in China. It includes one species, *Qianjiangsaurus changshengi*, first described in 2025 from a partial skeleton and lower jaw. Like other crested hadrosaurs, it may have used its nasal structures to amplify its calls. Qianjiangsaurus is one of the few hadrosauroids named from southern China, and its presence suggests links between dinosaur faunas of the Zhengyang Formation and those of similar-aged formations in Mongolia.
The holotype specimen, CLGRP V00016, was unearthed during a winter 2022 expedition by the Chongqing Bureau of Geological and Mineral Resource Exploration and Development. It came from sediments of the Zhengyang Formation near the Zhengyang area in Qianjiang District, Chongqing Municipality, southwest China. The remains include a partial, somewhat articulated skeleton: an incomplete lower jaw, four dorsal vertebrae, the sacrum, many tail vertebrae with chevrons, most of the pelvis, and several hindlimb bones. The discovery was formally described by Dai et al. in 2025 as a new genus and species. The genus name combines "Qianjiang" (the district of the type locality) with the Greek *sauros* ("lizard"). The species name honors Changsheng Wang, who found the fossil site. The only other hadrosauroid named from southern China is *Nanningosaurus*, from Guangxi's Nalong Basin.
Quick Facts
- Genus
- Qianjiangsaurus
- Species
- changshengi
Facts from the source article.
Lore & Background
The holotype specimen, CLGRP V00016, was discovered during the winter of 2022 by a paleontological expedition associated with the Chongqing Bureau of Geological and Mineral Resource Exploration and Development. The locality represents sediments of the Zhengyang Formation near Zhengyang area in Qianjiang District, Chongqing Municipality of southwest China. The specimen consists of a partial, somewhat articulated skeleton, comprising an incomplete mandible, four dorsal vertebrae, the sacrum, many caudal vertebrae and associated chevrons, most of the pelvic girdle, and several hindlimb bones. After being announced in August 2024 in a non-finalized preprint, Dai et al. (2025) described Qianjiangsaurus changshengi as a new genus and species. The generic name combines 'Qianjiang' with the Greek σαῦρος (sauros), meaning 'lizard'; the specific name honors Changsheng Wang, the discoverer of the Chongqing fossil locality.
Reader's Guide
Qianjiangsaurus is significant as one of the few hadrosauroids named from southern China, alongside Nanningosaurus from the Nalong Basin of Guangxi. Its discovery provides evidence of faunal connections between the Zhengyang Formation and the Djadokhta and Baruungoyot formations of Mongolia, suggesting faunal interchange between these regions during the end of the Late Cretaceous. The hollow crest on its snout, which evolved independently from the similar crests of lambeosaurine hadrosaurs, represents a notable case of convergent evolution. This crest may have been used to amplify its vocalizations, as in other crest-bearing hadrosaurs. Phylogenetically, Qianjiangsaurus was initially recovered as the sister taxon to the Mongolian Plesiohadros, as a late-diverging hadrosauroid outside Hadrosauridae. Updated analysis in 2026 placed it slightly closer to Hadrosauridae and less close to Mongolian taxa. The holotype represents a mature adult about 8 metres long, with a fan-shaped prepubic process of the pubis as its single autapomorphy. The Zhengyang Formation has also yielded fragmentary titanosaurs and theropods, and future excavations may reveal ornithomimosaurs, therizinosauroids, and oviraptorosaurs.
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