Outline: a typical stegosaur
Huayangosaurus
hwah-YANG-oh-SORE-us
"Huayang lizard"
- Lived
- 171 to 155 million years ago, Middle Jurassic to Late Jurassic
- Diet
- Herbivore
- Length
- about 4.5 m (15 ft)
- Group
- Stegosaurs, Huayangosauridae
- Found in
- China
- Named by
- Dong et al. 1982
Size comparison
To scale
Scale in metersOutline: typical stegosaur shape
Where its fossils were found
The evidence
Today
165 million years ago
Field notes
About Huayangosaurus
What it was like
Huayangosaurus was one of the earliest stegosaurs, only about 4.5 meters (15 feet) long. It had two rows of small plates and spikes along its back, a pair of long spikes on its shoulders and spikes on its tail. Unlike Stegosaurus, it still had teeth at the very front of its upper jaw.
Its world
It lived in the Jurassic in what is now China. Its bones come from the Shaximiao Formation, where it shared the land with the long-necked Shunosaurus and Omeisaurus.
How it was found
Dong and colleagues named it in 1982. The name comes from an old name for the region of China where it was found. It is known from one good skeleton, which has helped scientists understand how the later, bigger stegosaurs evolved.
Lived alongside
Found in the same rock formations
Close relatives
Other members of Huayangosauridae
Sources: WikidataNamed in: Z. Dong, Z. Tang, and S.-w. Zhou. 1982. Note on the new Mid-Jurassic stegosaur from Sichuan Basin, China. Vertebrata PalAsiatica 20(1):83-87