Outline: a typical early ornithischian
Jeholosaurus
"Jehol lizard"
- Lived
- 126 to 120 million years ago, Early Cretaceous
- Diet
- Herbivore
- Group
- Early ornithischians, Thescelosauridae
- Found in
- China
- Named by
- Xu et al. 2000
Where its fossils were found
The evidence
Today
125 million years ago
Field notes
About Jeholosaurus
What it was like
Jeholosaurus was a small, two-legged plant eater. It had large eyes, a short snout, and teeth of two kinds: pointed teeth at the front of its jaws and leaf-shaped teeth at the back. It may have eaten a mix of plants and small animals.
Its world
It lived about 126 to 120 million years ago, in the Early Cretaceous, in what is now China. Its bones come from the Yixian Formation, a land of forests and lakes shared with the small horned Psittacosaurus, the feathered Sinosauropteryx and the big feathered tyrannosaur Yutyrannus.
How it was found
Xu and colleagues named Jeholosaurus in 2000. Several skeletons of young animals have since been found.
Lived alongside
Found in the same rock formations
Close relatives
Other members of Thescelosauridae
Sources: WikidataNamed in: X. Xu, X.-L. Wang, and H.-L. You. 2000. A primitive ornithopod from the Early Cretaceous Yixian Formation of Liaoning. Vertebrata PalAsiatica 38(4):318-325