Dinosaur genus
Aorun
Aorun is a dinosaur genus known from bones, found in rocks 165.3–161.5 million years old, in China.
Confidence labels are switched off. Facts with low confidence, or where sources disagree, still carry a small dot: tap it for the reason.
At a glance
Data as of 12 October 2026- Named by
- Choiniere et al. 2013
medium
medium: Only PBDB gives this; nothing contradicts it.Sources
Given by: Paleobiology Database. How it was chosen: PBDB leads.
- Described in
- J. N. Choiniere, J. M. Clark, C. A. Forster, M. A. Norell, D. A. Eberth. G. M. Erickson, H. Chu, X. Xu (2013). A juvenile specimen of a new coelurosaur (Dinosauria: Theropoda) from the Middle-Late Jurassic Shishugou Formation of Xinjiang, People's Republic of China. Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. Read it
medium
medium: Only PBDB gives this; its author and year match the naming authority (Choiniere et al. 2013).Sources
Given by: Paleobiology Database. The publication the Paleobiology Database gives as the authority for this genus name, usually the one that first named and described it.
- Type species
- Aorun zhaoi
medium
medium: Only PBDB gives this; nothing contradicts it.Sources
Given by: Paleobiology Database. How it was chosen: PBDB leads.
- Lived
- Callovian, 165.3–161.5 million years ago
medium
medium: Only PBDB gives this; nothing contradicts it.Omnisaura calculation165.3–161.5 million years ago, from its dated fossil recordslow
low: Omnisaura's calculation from only 1 dated record(s).Sources
Given by: Paleobiology Database. How it was chosen: PBDB leads.
- Fossils found in
- China
low
low: Only one PBDB record.Sources
Given by: Paleobiology Database. How it was chosen: Union of all sources (ISO 3166).
- Rock formations
- Shishugou
low
low: Only one PBDB record.Sources
Given by: Paleobiology Database. How it was chosen: Canonical names, automatic and editor-approved matches applied.
- Parent group
- Alvarezsauria
medium
medium: Only PBDB gives this; nothing contradicts it.Sources
Given by: Paleobiology Database. How it was chosen: PBDB leads.
- Named after
- Ao Run
medium
medium: Only Wikidata gives this; nothing contradicts it.Sources
Given by: Wikidata. How it was chosen: Wikidata leads.
- Known from
- Bones
Sources
Given by: Paleobiology Database (what the name was based on).
Gaps are answers
What isn't known yet
- Order: no source we use gives it yet.
- Family: no source we use gives it yet.
- Common names: no source we use gives it yet.
- Resting on one source: 5 facts come from a single source with nothing against them (rated medium): authority (PBDB); type species (PBDB); parent group (PBDB); age (headline) (PBDB); named after (Wikidata).
Size, diet and behaviour aren't covered yet. Omnisaura leaves them out rather than guess.
Where sources disagree
None open. Where our sources overlap, they agree on everything shown here.
Did it meet…?
No. Aorun had gone at least 77.9 million years before Tyrannosaurus appears in the fossil record, a longer gap than the 66 million years between Tyrannosaurus and today.
Going by the ages and rock formations of their dated fossils, as on the map. Compare their fossil sites on the map.
Lived alongside
Genera found in the same rock formations, from rocks of the same age.
Credits
Where this page comes from
- Paleobiology DatabaseCC BY 4.0 · fossil records, ages, classification
- WikidataCC0 1.0 · names and identifiers
- OmnisauraOmnisaura editorial · confidence levels and gaps
- PaleoMAP PaleoCoastlines (Kocsis and Scotese 2021)CC BY 4.0 · ancient coastlines on the small map
- Natural EarthPublic domain · today's coastlines
Pictures linked from this page are credited beside each one, with their own licences; the full list is in the JSON download.