We're on the countdown to bringing a unique dinosaur exhibition to Nottingham in the summer of 2017.

Meet the team

Dr Adam Smith

Dr Adam Smith is a curator at the Nottingham Natural History Museum, Wollaton Hall, where he is responsible for the museum’s collection of 40,000 fossils. 

As a palaeontologist he has collaborated with scientists around the world and named several new species.

His role in Dinosaurs of China includes looking after the dinosaurs when they arrive, working on the exhibition content, and making sure all the information is accurate and up to date.

Adam is pictured holding a fossil fish head from the collection at Wollaton Hall

Meet the dinosaurs!

Linheraptor

Genus: Linheraptor
Pronounced: lin-heh-rap-tore
Species: exquisitus
Pronounced: ex-kwiz-it-us

Meaning of names: The genus refers to the district of Linhe, Inner Mongolia, China where the specimen was discovered. The species exquisitus refers to the well-preserved nature of the fossil. 

Size: 1.8m long, 1m tall

Diet: Carnivorous

Named by: Xu, Choiniere, Pittman, Tan, Xiao, Li, Tan, Clark, Norell, Hone and Sullivan, 2010

Place of discovery: Byan Mandahu, Inner Mongolia, China 

Age: Later Cretaceous (Campanian, Wulansuhai Formation), 73 million years ago.

Classification: Linheraptor belongs to the dromaeosaurid or ‘raptor’ family, so it is a close relative of Velociraptor and Microraptor.

Description: Linheraptor is a moderately sized ‘raptor’ dinosaur that walked on two legs and balanced its body with a long tail. It has sharp recurved teeth for killing prey and three-fingered grasping hands with sharp claws. On the second toe of its foot is an enlarged sickle-shaped killing claw – a frightening weapon. Only the bones of Linheraptor are known, but feathers are preserved in other dromaeosaurids (Microraptor, Sinornithosaurus), so it is reasonable to infer feathers in Linheraptor too.

Reference: Xu Xing, Choinere, J.N., Pittman, M., Tan, Q.W., Xiao, D., Li, Z.Q., Tan, L., Clark, J.M., Norell, M.A., Hone, D.W.E. and Sullivan, C. (2010). A new dromaeosaurid (Dinosauria: Theropoda) from the Upper Cretaceous Wulansuhai Formation of Inner Mongolia, China . Zootaxa (2403): 1–9

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Mei long

Genus: Mei
Pronounced: may
Species: long
Pronounced: long

Meaning of names: The genus stems from the Chinese ‘Mei’, meaning to sleep soundly. The species name stems from the Chinese ‘long’, meaning dragon. Hence, Mei long is the ‘sleeping dragon’.

Size: 53 cm long (but curled up into a sleeping pose, approximately 15 cm long).

Diet: Carnivorous

Named by: Xu & Norell, 2004

Place of discovery: Lujiatun, Shangyuan, Beipiao City, Western Liaoning, China

Age: Early Cretaceous (Yixian Formation) ~125 million years ago (older than 128 and younger than 139 million years ago).

Classification: Mei long is a troodontid - a family of small two-legged predatory dinosaurs.   

Description: Mei long is a small two-legged predatory dinosaur with a long tail.

Reference: Xing Xu & Mark A. Norell (2004). "A new troodontid dinosaur from China with avian-like sleeping posture". Nature 431 (7010): 838–841.

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Stay in touch!

Don't forget, we'll be using the Wollaton Hall Facebook and Wollaton Hall Twitter accounts to update you on the exhibition. Wollaton's own George the Gorilla is providing his own rundown on the show!

The hashtag for the exhibition is #Chinasaurs17 so everybody can get involved!

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