Outline: a typical early sauropodomorph
Lufengosaurus
loo-FUNG-oh-SORE-us
"Lufeng lizard"
- Lived
- 201 to 193 million years ago, Early Jurassic
- Length
- about 6 m (20 ft)
- Group
- Early sauropodomorphs, Massospondylidae
- Found in
- China
- Named by
- Young 1940
Size comparison
To scale
Scale in metersOutline: typical early sauropodomorph shape
Where its fossils were found
The evidence
Today
195 million years ago
Field notes
About Lufengosaurus
What it was like
Lufengosaurus was a plant eater about 6 meters (20 feet) long, with a long neck, a small head and strong hands with big thumb claws. It could walk on its hind legs and probably reached up into trees for leaves.
It was a close relative of Massospondylus from southern Africa.
Its world
It lived in the Early Jurassic in what is now southwestern China. Its bones come from the Lufeng Formation, where it shared the land with the plant eater Yunnanosaurus and the crested hunter Sinosaurus.
How it was found
Young named Lufengosaurus in 1940. It was one of the first complete dinosaur skeletons found in China and is one of the best known, with 26 finds. One fossil even preserves traces of proteins in its ribs.
Lived alongside
Found in the same rock formations
Close relatives
Other members of Massospondylidae
Sources: WikidataNamed in: C.-C. Young. 1940. Preliminary notes on the Lufeng vertebrate fossils. Bulletin of the Geological Society of China 20(3-4):235-239