Outline: a typical early ornithischian
Archaeocursor
"ancient runner"
Type species Archaeocursor asiaticus
- Lived
- 200 to 184 million years ago, Early Jurassic
- Diet
- Herbivore
- Group
- Early ornithischians
- Found in
- China
- Named by
- Yao et al. 2025
Where its fossils were found
The evidence
Today
190 million years ago
Field notes
About Archaeocursor
What it was like
Archaeocursor was a small, two-legged plant eater known only from a thigh bone. It is one of the oldest bird-hipped dinosaurs known from Asia.
Its world
It lived about 200 to 184 million years ago, in the Early Jurassic, in what is now China. Its bone comes from the Ziliujing Formation, where early sauropods such as Gongxianosaurus and Sanpasaurus also lived.
How it was found
Yao and colleagues named it in 2025. The type species is Archaeocursor asiaticus.
Lived alongside
Found in the same rock formations
Close relatives
Other members of Ornithischia
Sources: WikidataNamed in: X. Yao, Q. Zhao, and T. Ren, G. Wei, X. Xu. 2025. New evidence for the earliest ornithischian dinosaurs from Asia. iScience 28(1):111641