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Huabeisaurus, Late CretaceousHuiquanpu Formation, China · named 2000
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Huabeisaurus

"North China lizard"

Lived
101 to 72 million years ago, Late Cretaceous
Diet
Herbivore
Group
Sauropods, Euhelopodidae
Found in
China
Named by
Pang and Cheng 2000

Where its fossils were found

The evidence

Today

1 find

90 million years ago

Map: C. R. Scotese, PALEOMAP

Habitat

Rivers laid down the silty mud in which its skeleton was buried. The Huiquanpu Formation also preserves Datonglong and Jinbeisaurus.

Field notes

About Huabeisaurus

What it was like

Huabeisaurus was a long-necked, four-legged plant eater, known from many bones of one animal, including limbs, backbones and teeth.

Its world

It lived in the Late Cretaceous in what is now northern China. Its bones come from the Huiquanpu Formation, where the early duckbill relative Datonglong has also been found.

How it was found

Pang and Cheng named Huabeisaurus in 2000, from a single find.

Field gallery

More views of Huabeisaurus

Scenes reconstructed from the available fossil evidence.

Huabeisaurus in its habitat, photo 1

1 of 3

Lived alongside

Found in the same rock formations

A rock formation can hold fossils laid down millions of years apart, so not every animal here met Huabeisaurus.

The evidence

The science behind Huabeisaurus

Which parts of the picture come from its own bones, and which come from its relatives.

From its own fossils

  • Much of a single, partly articulated skeleton preserves teeth, neck, back and tail vertebrae, ribs, shoulders, hips and limb bones. A separate upper arm bone once assigned to it was set aside in a later restudy.
  • Its teeth have slender, rounded crowns with wrinkled enamel, and the spines on its rear neck vertebrae are relatively tall and split in two.
  • The shin bones are relatively long compared with the thigh bones. The thigh bone is somewhat slender, and the forearm bone is slender with a widened lower end.

Borrowed from relatives

  • Much of the body is known from its own bones. The missing skull is restored by comparison with Euhelopus, and the missing upper arm and elbow with Mnyamawamtuka.

Still unknown

  • The complete shape of its skull.
  • Its closest relatives. It was linked with Euhelopus and other Asian sauropods, but one recent study left its position unresolved.
  • Its skin texture and color, and which plants it preferred to eat.

Discovery timeline

  1. 2000Named itPang & Cheng
  2. 2012Family treeD'EMIC
  3. 2013Full descriptionD'Emic et al.
  4. 2013Close relativePoropat & Kear
  5. 2026Family treeSethapanichsakul et al.

Key papers

The research behind what we know of Huabeisaurus

Close relatives

Other members of Euhelopodidae

Sources: Wikidata