Ruyangosaurus
"Ruyang lizard"
Type species Ruyangosaurus giganteus
- Lived
- 121 to 101 million years ago, Early Cretaceous
- Diet
- Herbivore
- Group
- Sauropods, Euhelopodidae
- Found in
- China
- Named by
- Lü et al. 2009
Where its fossils were found
The evidence
Today
110 million years ago
Habitat
An inland landscape in what is now China. Other dinosaurs from the Haoling Formation include Gobisaurus, Xianshanosaurus and Yunmenglong.
Field notes
About Ruyangosaurus
What it was like
Ruyangosaurus was one of the largest dinosaurs known from Asia, a huge, long-necked, four-legged plant eater. It is known from parts of the legs, back and ribs.
Its world
It lived in the Early Cretaceous in what is now central China. Its bones come from the Haoling Formation, where it shared the land with the armored Gobisaurus and the long-necked Xianshanosaurus and Yunmenglong.
How it was found
Lü and colleagues named Ruyangosaurus giganteus in 2009. Its species name, "giganteus", marks its great size.
Field gallery
More views of Ruyangosaurus
Scenes reconstructed from the available fossil evidence.
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 Ruyangosaurus.
The evidence
The science behind Ruyangosaurus
Which parts of the picture come from its own bones, and which come from its relatives.
From its own fossils
- The original skeleton includes back vertebrae, ribs, part of a thigh bone and a complete shin bone.
- The shin bone is robust, with a broad lower end.
Borrowed from relatives
- The missing head is restored by comparison with Euhelopus, which had a rounded muzzle.
- Apatosaurus and Camarasaurus provide comparisons for the missing hands and feet, including compact weight-bearing hands and padded hind feet.
Still unknown
- The exact shape of its head and the length of its neck.
- Its total body length and weight.
- Which sauropods were its closest relatives.
Discovery timeline
- 2009Named itLü et al.
- 2011Family treeMANNION & CALVO
- 2013Family treeMannion et al.
Key papers
The research behind what we know of Ruyangosaurus
Named it
Named a giant sauropod from China using distinctive back vertebrae and a robust shin bone.
A new gigantic sauropod dinosaur from the Cretaceous of Ruyang, Henan, China. Geological Bulletin of China 28: 1-10
No link available
Family tree
Reexamined the features used to classify Ruyangosaurus and placed it outside the titanosaurs.
Anatomy of the basal titanosaur (Dinosauria, Sauropoda) Andesaurus delgadoi from the mid-Cretaceous (Albian-early Cenomanian) Río Limay Formation, Neuquén Province, Argentina: implications for titanosaur systematics. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society: no-no
Read the paper : Anatomy of the basal titanosaur (Dinosauria, Sauropoda) Andesaurus delgadoi from the mid-Cretaceous (Albian-early Cenomanian) Río Limay Formation, Neuquén Province, Argentina: implications for titanosaur systematics (opens in a new tab)Family tree
Different analyses placed Ruyangosaurus either outside the titanosaurs or among their early branches.
Osteology of the Late Jurassic Portuguese sauropod dinosaurLusotitan atalaiensis(Macronaria) and the evolutionary history of basal titanosauriforms. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 168: 98-206
Read the paper : Osteology of the Late Jurassic Portuguese sauropod dinosaurLusotitan atalaiensis(Macronaria) and the evolutionary history of basal titanosauriforms (opens in a new tab)
Close relatives
Other members of Euhelopodidae
Sources: Wikidata