Outline: a typical ceratopsian
Chaoyangsaurus
"Chaoyang lizard"
- Lived
- 152 to 133 million years ago, Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous
- Diet
- Herbivore
- Length
- about 1.1 m (4 ft)
- Group
- Ceratopsians, Chaoyangsauridae
- Found in
- China
- Named by
- Zhao et al. 1999
Size comparison
To scale
Scale in metersOutline: typical ceratopsian shape
Where its fossils were found
The evidence
Today
140 million years ago
Field notes
About Chaoyangsaurus
What it was like
Chaoyangsaurus was a small, early horned dinosaur about 1.1 meters (4 feet) long. It had a parrot-like beak and ran on its hind legs, but it had no real frill or horns yet.
It is one of the oldest known ceratopsians and helps show how the group began.
Its world
It lived in the Late Jurassic or Early Cretaceous in what is now northeastern China. Its bones come from the Tuchengzi Formation, which has also produced the small ceratopsian Xuanhuaceratops.
How it was found
Zhao and colleagues named Chaoyangsaurus in 1999, from a single partial skeleton.
Lived alongside
Found in the same rock formations
Close relatives
Other members of Chaoyangsauridae
Sources: WikidataNamed in: X. Zhao, Z. Cheng, and X. Xu. 1999. The earliest ceratopsian from the Tuchengzi Formation of Liaoning, China. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 19(4):681-697