Outline: a typical ornithopod
Yamatosaurus
"Yamato lizard"
Type species Yamatosaurus izanagii
- Lived
- 72 to 66 million years ago, Late Cretaceous
- Diet
- Herbivore
- Group
- Ornithopods, Hadrosauridae
- Found in
- Japan
- Named by
- Kobayashi et al. 2021
Where its fossils were found
The evidence
Today
70 million years ago
Field notes
About Yamatosaurus
What it was like
Yamatosaurus was a duck-billed plant eater, known from part of the jaw, teeth and some other bones. It was an early member of the hadrosaur family.
Its world
It lived about 72 to 66 million years ago, at the end of the Late Cretaceous, in what is now Japan. Its bones come from the Kita-ama Formation, rocks laid down in the sea, on an island.
How it was found
Kobayashi and colleagues named Yamatosaurus in 2021, from a single find. Its name refers to an old name for Japan.
Close relatives
Other members of Hadrosauridae
Sources: WikidataNamed in: Y. Kobayashi, R. Takasaki, and K. Kubota, A. R. Fiorillo. 2021. A new basal hadrosaurid (Dinosauria: Ornithischia) from the latest Cretaceous Kita-ama Formation in Japan implies the origin of hadrosaurids. Scientific Reports 11:8547:1-15