Gigantoraptor is a
genusIn biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...
of giant
oviraptorosauriaOviraptorosaurs are a group of feathered maniraptoran dinosaurs from the Cretaceous Period of what are now Asia and North America. They are distinct for their characteristically short, beaked, parrot - like skulls, with or without bony crests atop the head...
n theropod
dinosaurDinosaurs are a diverse group of animals of the clade and superorder Dinosauria. They were the dominant terrestrial vertebrates for over 160 million years, from the late Triassic period until the end of the Cretaceous , when the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event led to the extinction of...
that lived 70 million years ago during the late Cretaceous Period. It was discovered in 2005 in the
Iren Dabasu FormationThe Iren Dabasu Formation is a Mesozoic geologic formation. Dinosaur remains diagnostic to the genus level are among the fossils that have been recovered from the formation.-Ornithischians:-Saurischians:-References:...
,
ErlianErenhot is a city located in the Gobi Desert, in the Xilin Gol league of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China . It has 16,330 inhabitants and the elevation is...
basin, in
Inner MongoliaInner Mongolia is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China, located in the northern region of the country. Inner Mongolia shares an international border with the countries of Mongolia and the Russian Federation...
.
Since 2001, in a quarry at Saihangaobi, in Sonid Zuoqi, numerous remains of the sauropod
SonidosaurusSonidosaurus is a genus of sauropod dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous. It was a titanosaur which lived in what is now China. The type species, Sonidosaurus saihangaobiensis, was described by Xu, Zhang, Tan, Zhao, and Tan in 2006. It was a small titanosaur, about 9 meters long...
have been uncovered. In April 2005 Chinese paleontologist Xu Xing was asked to reenact the discovery of
Sonidosaurus for a Japanese documentary.