Huashanosaurus
"Huashan lizard"
Type species Huashanosaurus qini
- Lived
- 201 to 162 million years ago, Early Jurassic to Middle Jurassic
- Diet
- Herbivore
- Group
- Sauropods
- Found in
- China
- Named by
- Mo et al. 2025
Where its fossils were found
The evidence
Today
180 million years ago
Habitat
It lived in southern China in a basin with rivers and lakes, preserved in the Wangmen Formation. Fish remains and plesiosaur teeth were found at its fossil site.
Field notes
About Huashanosaurus
What it was like
Huashanosaurus was a long-necked sauropod known from a partial skeleton.
Its world
It lived in the Jurassic in what is now China. Its bones come from the Wangmen Formation.
How it was found
Mo and colleagues named it in 2025. The type species is Huashanosaurus qini.
Field gallery
More views of Huashanosaurus
Scenes reconstructed from the available fossil evidence.
The evidence
The science behind Huashanosaurus
Which parts of the picture come from its own bones, and which come from its relatives.
From its own fossils
- Scattered forearm and lower-leg bones collected in separate years were assigned to a single individual based on their size and shape.
- The larger forearm bone has a hook-shaped projection and a crescent-shaped upper cross section.
- The outer lower-leg bone has a groove near its lower end.
Borrowed from relatives
- Its missing head and body proportions are compared with Shunosaurus, an early sauropod.
Still unknown
- Its complete skull and neck proportions, and whether all the scattered bones belonged to the same individual.
- Its skin color.
- Exactly when within the Jurassic it lived.
Discovery timeline
- 2013PostureTaylor & Wedel
- 2020Family treeTan et al.
- 2025Named itMO et al.
Key papers
The research behind what we know of Huashanosaurus
Posture
Explained how a small head, air-filled vertebrae and a stable four-legged body supported long sauropod necks.
Why sauropods had long necks; and why giraffes have short necks. PeerJ 1: e36
Read the paper : Why sauropods had long necks; and why giraffes have short necks (opens in a new tab)Family tree
Named a new species of Omeisaurus from a partial skeleton and compared its vertebrae and limbs with those of other species.
A new species of Omeisaurus (Dinosauria: Sauropoda) from the Middle Jurassic of Yunyang, Chongqing, China. Historical Biology 33: 1817-1829
Read the paper : A new species of Omeisaurus (Dinosauria: Sauropoda) from the Middle Jurassic of Yunyang, Chongqing, China (opens in a new tab)Named it
Named a sauropod with distinctive forearm and lower-leg bones and suggested that its rock formation was younger than previously thought.
A New Eusauropod Dinosaur from the Lower and Middle Jurassic Wangmen Formation of Ningming County, Guangxi, South China. Acta Geologica Sinica - English Edition 99: 909-924
Read the paper : A New Eusauropod Dinosaur from the Lower and Middle Jurassic Wangmen Formation of Ningming County, Guangxi, South China (opens in a new tab)
Close relatives
Other members of Eusauropoda
Sources: Wikidata