When did Xiongguanlong inhabit the Earth compared to T. rex?

Answer

During the Middle Jurassic period

The temporal placement of *Xiongguanlong* is crucial to understanding its role in dinosaur evolution, specifically separating it from the later, more famous tyrannosaurs. *Xiongguanlong* existed during the Middle Jurassic period, with the rock layers dating back to approximately 168 million years ago. This places it substantially earlier than the Late Cretaceous period, the time frame during which apex predators like *Tyrannosaurus rex* flourished, which lived closer to 66 million years ago. This temporal gap of roughly 100 million years highlights *Xiongguanlong* as a key ancestral form that showcases the early, modest beginnings of the tyrannosauroid group before the lineage underwent massive evolutionary shifts towards gigantism and hypercarnivory.

Related Questions

When did *Xiongguanlong* inhabit the Earth compared to *T. rex*?What was the estimated total length of *Xiongguanlong* based on skeletal reconstruction?What location does the specific epithet *baimoutunensis* reference?What is the most defining characteristic of *Xiongguanlong*'s skull morphology?Which family groups *Xiongguanlong* with *Guanlong* and *Proceratosaurus*?To which geologic formation do the rock layers containing *Xiongguanlong* date?What key skeletal features of *Xiongguanlong* allow tracking of later tyrannosauroid evolution?Who were the paleontologists involved in the formal description of *Xiongguanlong* in 2010?What predatory niche did *Xiongguanlong* occupy relative to other contemporary Jurassic predators?What is the rough translation of the genus name *Xiongguanlong*?How does the cranial architecture of *Xiongguanlong* suggest a different predatory strategy than *T. rex*?

paleontology fossil dinosaur Xiongguanlong