Qiupalong

Qiupalong (IPA: International Phonetic Alphabet|; ) is an extinct genus of ornithomimosaurian theropod that was discovered in the Late Cretaceous Qiupa Formation of Henan, China. The genus contains a single species, Q. henanensis, the specific epithet for which was named for the province of Henan. Uniquely, Qiupalong is one of the few Late Cretaceous non-avian dinosaurs known from both Asia and Laramidia. A specimen from Alberta has been referred to the genus without being assigned to the type species or suggested to be similar to it. A fossil of an ornithomimid similar to Qiupalong has also been described from Russian Far East.

==Discovery== thumb|left|A map of the Qiupa Formation with a corresponding stratigraphic chart The Qiupa Formation is located in the Tantou Basin which is in Luanchuan County of the Henan province in China. Lithological correlation of the local strata has dated the Qiupa Formation to the Late Cretaceous. More specific analyses have suggested that the formation dates to the end of the Maastrichtian stage, which was the final stage of the Mesozoic Era. This would make Qiupalong and its contemporaries were among the last-surviving non-avian dinosaurs.