| Ningyuansaurus Temporal range: Early Cretaceous,
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|---|---|
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Clade: | Dinosauria |
| Clade: | Saurischia |
| Clade: | Theropoda |
| Clade: | Pennaraptora |
| Genus: | †Ningyuansaurus Ji et al., 2012 |
| Type species | |
| †Ningyuansaurus wangi Ji et al., 2012
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Ningyuansaurus is a pennaraptoran dinosaur genus. It contains the single species Ningyuansaurus wangi, known from a fossil specimen from the Early Cretaceous Yixian Formation (Aptian stage, 124.6 Ma ago) of Jianchang, western Liaoning Province, People's Republic of China. It was originally thought to be the basalmost species of oviraptorosaur, based on its long skull and a greater number of teeth in comparison to any other known oviraptorosaur. However, later research showed that it is a member of Halszkaraptorinae. The generic name Ningyuansaurus is derived from Ningyuan, an ancient name for Xingcheng City. The specific name honors Wang Qiuwu, the private owner of the specimen who donated it for scientific study. The specimen is now in the Confuciusornis Museum in Xingcheng.[1]
- ^ Ji Qiang; Lü Jun-Chang; Wei Xue-Fang; Wang Xu-Ri (2012). "A new oviraptorosaur from the Yixian Formation of Jianchang, Western Liaoning Province, China". Geological Bulletin of China. 31 (12): 2102–2107.