Outline: a typical early ornithischian
Pulaosaurus
"Pulao lizard"
Type species Pulaosaurus qinglong
- Lived
- 165 to 155 million years ago, Middle Jurassic to Late Jurassic
- Diet
- Herbivore
- Group
- Early ornithischians
- Found in
- China
- Named by
- Yang et al. 2025
Where its fossils were found
The evidence
Today
160 million years ago
Field notes
About Pulaosaurus
What it was like
Pulaosaurus was a small, two-legged plant eater, known from a nearly complete skeleton with a skull and traces of soft tissue. It belonged to an early branch of ornithischians, the group that includes horned and duck-billed dinosaurs.
Its world
It lived in the Middle or Late Jurassic in what is now northeastern China. Its skeleton comes from the Tiaojishan Formation, which has produced many small feathered dinosaurs, such as Anchiornis, Yi and Epidexipteryx, and the small plant eater Tianyulong.
How it was found
Yang and colleagues named Pulaosaurus in 2025, from a single find.
Lived alongside
Found in the same rock formations
Close relatives
Other members of Neornithischia
- NanosaurusLate Jurassic to Early Cretaceous
- EnigmacursorLate Jurassic to Early Cretaceous
- AgilisaurusMiddle Jurassic to Late Jurassic
- YandusaurusMiddle Jurassic
- MinimocursorLate Jurassic to Early Cretaceous
- HexinlusaurusMiddle Jurassic to Late Jurassic
- SanxiasaurusEarly Jurassic to Middle Jurassic
- StormbergiaEarly Jurassic
Sources: WikidataNamed in: Y. Yang, J. L. King, and X. Xu. 2025. A new neornithischian dinosaur from the Upper Jurassic Tiaojishan Formation of northern China. PeerJ 13(4443):e19664:1-58