Zuolong salleei is a basal theropod from the Tyrannoraptora family. It was relatively small, bipedal, with a toothed skull, short arms, a tail for balance, and likely feathers.
Zuolong lived in the Late Jurassic marshes of what is now Northern Xinjiang, China. It is one of the earliest-known coelurosaurs (if not the earliest), the group of theropods that are more closely related to modern birds.
The holotype consists of the skull, and a fair amount the the rest of the skeleton. It was discovered by a Chinese and American field expedition to Wucaiwan Village of Changji Hui prefecture, in the Xinjiang Autonomous Prefecture of China in 2001, and was described in 2010. It is also theorized to be a juvenile.
Zuolong comes from General Zuo (or General Tso), a Chinese general from the Qing Dynasty who conquered parts of Xinjiang, and the Mandarin word for dragon, "long". Salleei refers to Hilmar Sallee, whose bequest (money given through a will) helped fund the expedition. Information can't be found about Hilmar Sallee, unless he is a previous Broadway assistant manager who died in 1998.
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