Bellusaurus

What it was like

Bellusaurus was a long-necked plant eater known from the bones of young animals, about 5 meters (16 feet) long. Adults would have been larger, but no grown individual has been found.

It had spoon-shaped teeth for stripping leaves and was a relative of Mamenchisaurus and Omeisaurus.

Its world

It lived about 159 to 158 million years ago, in the Late Jurassic, in what is now northwestern China. Its bones come from the Shishugou Formation, where it shared the land with the giant Mamenchisaurus, the crested hunters Guanlong and Monolophosaurus, the big predator Sinraptor and the beaked Limusaurus.

How it was found

Dong named Bellusaurus in 1990. Its bones come from a single site that held the remains of many young animals together, which may mean a group died at the same time, perhaps in a flood.