Pronunciation: khahn-KOO-loo
Meaning: Dragon Prince
Author/s: Voris et al. (2025)
Synonyms: None known
First Discovery: Bayshin Tsav, Mongolia
Discovery Chart Position: #1171
Khankhuuluu mongoliensis
Dragon Prince of Mongolia
Etymology
Khankhuuluu is derived from the Latinized Mongolian "khankhuu" (prince) and "luu" (dragon). The species epithet, mongoliensis (mon-gol-ee-EN-sis), means "from Mongolia" in Latin.
Discovery
The first remains of Khankhuuluu were discovered in the Bayanshiree Formation at the Baishin-Tsav locality, southeastern Mongolia,
in 1972 and 1973. They were originally described by Altangerel Perle in 1977 and assigned to Alectrosaurus olseni.
The holotype (MPC-D 100/50) includes parts of the skull—like the nose bone and pieces around the eye and jaw—three back vertebrae, the last 17 tail vertebrae, part of the shoulder, and one bone from the left foot. A referred specimen from the same locality (MPC-D 100/51) includes more skull fragments, parts of the pelvis, a partial lower leg bone, the upper part of the right foot, and four toe bones. An isolated skull bone (MPC-D 102/4) from the Tsaagan Teg locality, described by Tsuihiji and colleagues in 2012, was also referred to Khankhuuluu.
Several more skull bones and a hand claw that Perle described in 1977 were missing from the Mongolian Academy of Sciences when Voris arrived to study the specimens in 2025.
