Outline: a typical early ornithischian
Sanxiasaurus
"Three Gorges lizard"
- Lived
- 184 to 171 million years ago, Early Jurassic to Middle Jurassic
- Diet
- Herbivore
- Group
- Early ornithischians
- Found in
- China
- Named by
- Hu Dai et al. 2019
Where its fossils were found
The evidence
Today
180 million years ago
Field notes
About Sanxiasaurus
What it was like
Sanxiasaurus was a small, two-legged plant eater, known from a partial skeleton of the body and limbs.
Its world
It lived in the Jurassic, between about 184 and 171 million years ago, in what is now southwestern China. Its bones come from the Xintiangou Formation, where it shared the land with the hunter Yunyangosaurus.
How it was found
Hu Dai and colleagues named Sanxiasaurus in 2019, 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
- PulaosaurusMiddle Jurassic to Late Jurassic
- YandusaurusMiddle Jurassic
- MinimocursorLate Jurassic to Early Cretaceous
- HexinlusaurusMiddle Jurassic to Late Jurassic
- StormbergiaEarly Jurassic
Sources: WikidataNamed in: N. L. Hu Dai, C. Tan, and X. Hu, Z. Wei, Y. Lin, G. Wei, D. Li, L. Meng, B. Hao, H. You, G. Peng. 2019. A neornithischian dinosaur from the Middle Jurassic Xintiangou Formation of Yunyang, Chongqing, China: the earliest record in Asia. Historical Biology