Micropachycephalosaurus hongtuyanensis

Overview

Micropachycephalosaurus holds a very special record—it has the longest dinosaur name ever! This tiny dinosaur, whose name means "small thick-headed lizard," lived during the Late Cretaceous period, about 70 million years ago in what is now China. Despite its enormous name, it was one of the smallest dinosaurs known!

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Taxonomy & Classification

• Clade: Marginocephalia
• Family: Ceratopsia (probably—classification uncertain!)
• Diet: Herbivorous
• Locomotion: Bipedal

Despite its name, Micropachycephalosaurus might NOT actually be a pachycephalosaur at all!

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Physical Characteristics

Tiny Size

• Length: Only about 1 meter (3 feet)
• Weight: 2.3-4.5 kg (5-10 lbs)
• Height: About 30 cm (1 foot) at hip
• Build: Small, lightweight, bipedal

Body Features

• Small head (not heavily domed like true pachycephalosaurs)
• Long legs for running
• Small teeth for eating plants
• Lightweight skeleton
• Built for speed, not fighting!

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The Name Record!

Longest Dinosaur Name Ever!

Dinosaur	Letters	Meaning
Micropachycephalosaurus	23 letters	Small thick-headed lizard
Carcharodontosaurus	19 letters	Shark-toothed lizard
Pachycephalosaurus	18 letters	Thick-headed lizard
Tyrannosaurus	13 letters	Tyrant lizard

Try saying "Micropachycephalosaurus" five times fast!

How to Pronounce It

MY-kro-PACK-ee-SEF-ah-lo-SORE-us

Break it down:

• Micro = small
• Pachy = thick
• Cephalo = head
• Saurus = lizard

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Classification Mystery

Is It Really a Pachycephalosaur?

Scientists aren't sure:

• Original fossils are very fragmentary
• Skull isn't obviously domed
• Might be an early ceratopsian instead
• Could be a completely different kind of dinosaur
• Need more fossils to know for sure!

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Feeding & Diet

Small Plant-Eater

Micropachycephalosaurus likely ate:

• Ferns and low plants
• Seeds and small vegetation
• Soft plant material
• Whatever it could reach at ground level

Survival Strategy

• Too small to fight predators
• Relied on speed to escape
• May have hidden in vegetation
• Probably lived in groups for safety

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Cretaceous China

Where It Lived

Found in:

• Shandong Province, eastern China
• Late Cretaceous period (~70 mya)
• Alongside other small dinosaurs
• In mixed forest/plain environments

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Discovery

A Fragmentary Fossil

• Discovered in 1978
• Named by Dong Zhiming (famous Chinese paleontologist)
• Very incomplete skeleton
• Only partial skull and some bones
• Classification has been debated ever since

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Size Comparison

One of the Smallest!

Dinosaur	Length
T. rex	12 meters
Velociraptor	2 meters
Micropachycephalosaurus	1 meter
Chicken	0.3 meters

About the size of a large cat!

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Cool Facts

• Has the longest name of any dinosaur—23 letters!
• Scientists shorten it to "Micropachycephalosaurus" or "Micro"
• Despite the name, it probably wasn't a pachycephalosaur!
• One of the smallest known dinosaurs
• The fossils are so incomplete, we're not even sure what it looked like
• Named in 1978 during China's dinosaur discovery boom
• Would fit on a small dog bed
• Proof that dinosaurs came in all sizes—not just giant!

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Micropachycephalosaurus may have been tiny, but it has the biggest name in the dinosaur world—a record that's hard to beat when you need 23 letters just to say hello!