| Banji Temporal range: Late Cretaceous, 65.5 Ma |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Superorder: | Dinosauria |
| Order: | Saurischia |
| Suborder: | Theropoda |
| Family: | †Oviraptoridae |
| Genus: | †Banji Xu & Han, 2010 |
| Species: | †B. long |
| Binomial name | |
| Banji long Xu & Han, 2010 |
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Banji is a genus of oviraptorid dinosaur. It contains one species, Banji long, named from the Chinese for "striped crest dragon". The species is represented by a single skull and lower jaw. The specimen was donated to the Chinese Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology by an amateur collector who recovered the fossil near the city of Ganzhou. Examination of the rock encasing the skull shows it is probably from the red beds of the Nanxiong Formation, dating to the Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary about 65.5 million years ago. It was first described by Xu Xing and Feng-Lu Han in 2010.[1]
Banji possessed a tall, crested skull like some other oviraptorids. Uniquely, the sides of the crest are adorned with a series of vertical striations, as well as grooved on the top of the lower jaw. Banji also differs from other oviraptorids in having an unusually long nasal opening that followed the curve of the crest nearly to the eye socket.[1]