Outline: a typical ceratopsian
Yinlong
"hidden dragon"
- Lived
- 162 to 155 million years ago, Late Jurassic
- Diet
- Herbivore
- Length
- about 1.2 m (4 ft)
- Group
- Ceratopsians, Chaoyangsauridae
- Found in
- China
- Named by
- Xu et al. 2006
Size comparison
To scale
Scale in metersOutline: typical ceratopsian shape
Where its fossils were found
The evidence
Today
160 million years ago
Field notes
About Yinlong
What it was like
Yinlong was a small plant eater about 1.2 meters (4 feet) long that walked on its hind legs. It is one of the oldest known ceratopsians, the group that later produced Triceratops. It already had the narrow beak bone that marks the horned dinosaurs, but no frill or horns.
Its world
It lived in the Late Jurassic, in what is now China. It comes from the Shishugou Formation, where it shared the land with the long-necked Mamenchisaurus, the predators Sinraptor and Monolophosaurus, and the crested early tyrannosaur Guanlong.
How it was found
Xu and colleagues named Yinlong in 2006. Its name refers to a film shot near the site. The skeleton is almost complete, and gastroliths, stones swallowed to help grind food, were found in its belly.
Lived alongside
Found in the same rock formations
Close relatives
Other members of Chaoyangsauridae
Sources: WikidataNamed in: X. Xu, C. A. Forster, and J. M. Clark, J. Mo. 2006. A basal ceratopsian with transitional features from the Late Jurassic of northwestern China. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B 273:2135-2140