| Yizhousaurus | |
|---|---|
| |
| An artist's illustraion of Y. sunae | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Sauropsida |
| Superorder: | Dinosauria |
| Order: | Saurischia |
| Suborder: | Sauropodomorpha |
| Infraorder: | Sauropoda |
| Family: | ?Prosauropoda |
| Genus: | Yizhousaurus |
| Binomial name | |
| Yizhousaurus sunae Chatterjee et al., 2018 | |
Yizhousaurus (meaning "Yizhou lizard") is a genus of basal sauropod dinosaurs which existed in what is now Lower Lufeng Formation, Yunnan Province of southern China during the lower Jurassic period. Identified from a nearly complete and exquisitely preserved skeleton, it is the most complete basal sauropod currently known with intact skull. It was first named by Sankar Chatterjee, T. Wang, S.G. Pan, Z. Dong, X.C. Wu, and Paul Upchurch in 2010 and was formally described in 2018 and the type species is Yizhousaurus sunae.
Discovery and naming[]
Yizhousaurus was first discovered in 2005 and was named in 2010 and was formally described in 2018. Almost all of the skeleton was discovered. Yizhousaurus has the most well preserved Sauropodomorph skull fossil known to date.
Reconstructed skeleton of Y. sunae
Assorted Y. sunae fossils
Reconstructed skull of Y. sunae
Skull of Y. sunae from different angles
Description[]
Yizhousaurus generally grew up to 30 ft long and fed on plants. They may have walked mainly on two legs, but may have also walked on four legs.