Wuerhosaurus
woo-UR-ho-SORE-us
"Wuerho lizard"
- Lived
- Early Cretaceous
- Diet
- Herbivore
- Length
- about 7 m (23 ft)
- Group
- Stegosaurs, Stegosauridae
- Found in
- China
- Named by
- Dong 1973
Size comparison
To scale
Scale in metersOutline: typical stegosaur shape
Where its fossils were found
The evidence
Today
Habitat
It lived around rivers and lakes in what is now China. Psittacosaurus, Kelmayisaurus and Tugulusaurus are recorded from the same formations.
Field notes
About Wuerhosaurus
What it was like
Wuerhosaurus was a stegosaur, a plant eater with plates along its back and spikes on its tail. It was about 7 meters (23 feet) long. Its plates may have been lower and longer than those of Stegosaurus, but the fossils are broken, so their true shape is uncertain.
It had a broad body and short front legs, so its head hung low, which suited browsing on low plants.
Its world
It lived in the Early Cretaceous, in what is now China. Its fossils come from the Lianmuqin and Ejinhoro formations. It shared its world with the small parrot-beaked Psittacosaurus and the predator Kelmayisaurus. It is one of the last stegosaurs known, from a time when the group had nearly disappeared.
How it was found
Dong named Wuerhosaurus in 1973. A second species was named later. Some scientists think Wuerhosaurus is so close to Stegosaurus that it could belong to the same genus, but most keep it separate.
Field gallery
More views of Wuerhosaurus
Scenes reconstructed from the available fossil evidence.
The evidence
The science behind Wuerhosaurus
Which parts of the picture come from its own bones, and which come from its relatives.
From its own fossils
- The original skeleton includes backbone, shoulder, arm and hip bones.
- It also preserves broken bony plates from the animal's armor.
Borrowed from relatives
- The missing head and beak are restored by comparison with Stegosaurus.
- Stegosaurus also supplies a model for the missing tail, tail spikes and arrangement of the plates.
Still unknown
- The complete shape and arrangement of its plates.
- Its skin color and whether it lived in groups.
- Whether Wuerhosaurus should remain separate from Stegosaurus.
Often drawn wrong
- The familiar low, rectangular plates are based on broken fossils; their complete outlines are unknown.
Discovery timeline
- 1973Named itDong
- 2008Family treeMaidment et al.
- 2025Family treeSánchez-Fenollosa & Cobos
Key papers
The research behind what we know of Wuerhosaurus
Named it
Named a stegosaur from a partial skeleton and bony plates found in China.
[Dinosaurs from Wuerho]. Reports of Paleontological Expedition to Sinkiang (II): Pterosaurian Fauna from Wuerho, Sinkiang. Memoirs of the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Academia Sinica 11: 45-52
No link available
Family tree
Reviewed stegosaur anatomy and placed the original Wuerhosaurus species within Stegosaurus.
Systematics and phylogeny of Stegosauria (Dinosauria: Ornithischia). Journal of Systematic Palaeontology 6: 367-407
Read the paper : Systematics and phylogeny of Stegosauria (Dinosauria: Ornithischia) (opens in a new tab)Family tree
A new stegosaur family tree supported keeping Wuerhosaurus separate from Stegosaurus.
New insights into the phylogeny and skull evolution of stegosaurian dinosaurs: An extraordinary cranium from the European Late Jurassic (Dinosauria: Stegosauria). Vertebrate Zoology 75: 165-189
Read the paper : New insights into the phylogeny and skull evolution of stegosaurian dinosaurs: An extraordinary cranium from the European Late Jurassic (Dinosauria: Stegosauria) (opens in a new tab)
Close relatives
Other members of Stegosauridae
Sources: Wikidata