Qianzhousaurus (sometimes called “Pinocchio rex” due to it’s long schnoz) sure got its time in the limelight this year with its bigscreen debut on “Prehistoric Planet.” (And btw, I had this list pretty much planned out before PP came out… just keept that in mind.) Much bigger than its relative Alioramus, Qianzhousaurus lived in Late Cretaceous China. It was a mid-size tyrannosaurid at around 6.3 m (21 ft) in length, 2 m (6.6 ft) in hip height, and 750–757 kg (1,653–1,669 lb) in body mass. Due to its slender build, it likely fed on smaller, speedy prey, while the bigger, bulkier Tarbosaurus would have fed on larger, more robust prey. The abundance of oviraptorosaur genera in the Nanxiong Formation seem to be the most likely prey of Qianzhousaurus. It would have also shared its environment with the hadrosaur Microhadrosaurus, the sauropod Gannansaurus, the therizinosaurid Nanshiungosaurus, the crocodilian Jiangxisuchus, as well as lizards and turtles.
(As a side note, bright colors on a predator this large may be implausible… but we’ll say these are breeding colors. And who knows, maybe breeding season coincides with all the ginkgo trees turning yellow? Or I just wanted to draw a dinosaur with yellow-throated marten colors…)