Outline: a typical early ornithischian
Yandusaurus
"Yandu lizard"
- Lived
- 171 to 168 million years ago, Middle Jurassic
- Diet
- Herbivore
- Length
- about 3 m (10 ft)
- Group
- Early ornithischians
- Found in
- China
- Named by
- He 1979
Size comparison
To scale
Scale in metersOutline: typical early ornithischian shape
Where its fossils were found
The evidence
Today
170 million years ago
Field notes
About Yandusaurus
What it was like
Yandusaurus was a small, two-legged plant eater about 3 meters (10 feet) long. It had long legs for running and a beak with leaf-shaped teeth.
Its world
It lived in the Middle Jurassic in what is now China. Its bones come from the Shaximiao Formation, where it shared the land with the long-necked Shunosaurus, the stegosaur Huayangosaurus and the hunter Yangchuanosaurus.
How it was found
He named Yandusaurus in 1979. Two finds are known.
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
- MinimocursorLate Jurassic to Early Cretaceous
- HexinlusaurusMiddle Jurassic to Late Jurassic
- SanxiasaurusEarly Jurassic to Middle Jurassic
- StormbergiaEarly Jurassic
Sources: WikidataNamed in: P. C. Sereno. 1986. Phylogeny of the bird-hipped dinosaurs (order Ornithischia). National Geographic Research 2(2):234-256