Dinosaur VaultEvery known dinosaur
Jintasaurus, Early CretaceousXiagou Formation, China · named 2009
See more pictures

Jintasaurus

"Jinta lizard"

Lived
121 to 113 million years ago, Early Cretaceous
Diet
Herbivore
Group
Ornithopods
Found in
China
Named by
You and Li 2009

Where its fossils were found

The evidence

Today

1 find

115 million years ago

Map: C. R. Scotese, PALEOMAP

Habitat

Its region had rivers, lakes and wet lowlands that dried out seasonally. Dinosaurs recorded from the Xiagou Formation include Xiongguanlong, Archaeoceratops and Beishanlong.

Field notes

About Jintasaurus

What it was like

Jintasaurus was a plant eater, an early relative of the duck-billed dinosaurs. It is known from part of a skull.

Its world

It lived in the Early Cretaceous in what is now northwestern China. Its bones come from the Xiagou Formation, where it shared the land with the early tyrannosaur relative Xiongguanlong, the small horned Archaeoceratops and the ostrich-like Beishanlong.

How it was found

You and Li named it in 2009.

Field gallery

More views of Jintasaurus

Scenes reconstructed from the available fossil evidence.

Jintasaurus 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 Jintasaurus.

The evidence

The science behind Jintasaurus

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

From its own fossils

  • The only known specimen is the rear part of a skull, with its bones still joined together. It includes the skull roof, the bones behind the eyes and a nearly complete braincase.
  • A long, crescent-shaped projection at the back of the skull hangs below the joint that connected the head to the neck.
  • The skull roof above the eyes is broad and smooth. Behind it, a ridge runs along the middle of the fused roof bones and splits into two stronger ridges at the back.

Borrowed from relatives

  • The missing snout, jaws and body are restored by comparison with Eolambia, a better-known early relative of the duck-billed dinosaurs.

Still unknown

  • The shape of its snout and jaws, and the texture and color of its skin.
  • Its full body proportions and adult size.
  • Its exact place in the family tree. The first study placed it just outside Hadrosauroidea, while a later one found it among early members of that group with no clear closest relative.

Discovery timeline

  1. 2009Named itYou & Li
  2. 2012Close relativeMcDonald et al.
  3. 2013Family treeWang et al.
  4. 2015Close relativeShibata et al.
  5. 2018Its worldSuarez et al.

Key papers

The research behind what we know of Jintasaurus

Close relatives

Other members of Hadrosauroidea

Sources: Wikidata