Outline: a typical stegosaur
Gigantspinosaurus
"giant spine lizard"
- Lived
- 162 to 155 million years ago, Late Jurassic
- Diet
- Herbivore
- Group
- Stegosaurs, Huayangosauridae
- Found in
- China
- Named by
- Ouyang 1992
Where its fossils were found
The evidence
Today
160 million years ago
Field notes
About Gigantspinosaurus
What it was like
Gigantspinosaurus was a stegosaur, a four-legged plant eater with small plates along its back. Its most striking feature was a pair of huge spines, one sticking out from each shoulder, much longer than the plates on its back.
Its world
It lived in the Jurassic, in what is now China. Its fossil comes from the Shaximiao Formation, alongside the long-necked Mamenchisaurus and Omeisaurus, the meat eater Yangchuanosaurus and other stegosaurs such as Tuojiangosaurus.
How it was found
Ouyang named Gigantspinosaurus in 1992. It is known from one skeleton that includes skin impressions.
Lived alongside
Found in the same rock formations
Close relatives
Other members of Huayangosauridae
Sources: WikidataNamed in: S. C. R. Maidment and G. Wei. 2006. A review of the Late Jurassic stegosaurs (Dinosauria, Stegosauria) from the People's Republic of China. Geological Magazine 143(5):621-634