Yueosaurus
"Zhejiang lizard"
- Lived
- 113 to 94 million years ago, Early Cretaceous to Late Cretaceous
- Diet
- Herbivore
- Group
- Early ornithischians, Thescelosauridae
- Found in
- China
- Named by
- Zheng et al. 2012
Where its fossils were found
The evidence
Today
105 million years ago
Habitat
Inland basins in what is now eastern China. The armored Jinyunpelta is also known from the Liangtoutang Formation.
Field notes
About Yueosaurus
What it was like
Yueosaurus was a small, two-legged plant eater, known from part of a skeleton. It was a relative of Orodromeus and Zephyrosaurus.
Its world
It lived in the Cretaceous in what is now eastern China. Its bones come from the Liangtoutang Formation, where it shared the land with the armored Jinyunpelta.
How it was found
Zheng and colleagues named Yueosaurus in 2012, from a single find.
Field gallery
More views of Yueosaurus
Scenes reconstructed from the available fossil evidence.
1 of 3
Lived alongside
Found in the same rock formations
A rock formation can hold fossils laid down millions of years apart, so not every animal here met Yueosaurus.
The evidence
The science behind Yueosaurus
Which parts of the picture come from its own bones, and which come from its relatives.
From its own fossils
- A partial skeleton preserves bones from the body rather than the skull.
- Its shoulder blade has a distinctive groove and a strongly expanded lower edge, and its tail vertebrae have narrow upright spines.
- Its upper arm bone is slender, closer to Jeholosaurus than to stouter relatives such as Koreanosaurus, and the lower end of its shin bone is strongly widened.
Borrowed from relatives
- The missing head is restored using small plant-eating relatives such as Jeholosaurus.
- Comparisons with Jeholosaurus and Koreanosaurus help place its body bones among small early ornithischians.
Still unknown
- The shape of its skull and teeth.
- Its skin covering and color.
- Its exact place among small early ornithischians. Some analyses group it with Jeholosaurus and Haya, another places it outside Thescelosauridae, and one study left it out because its position kept shifting.
Discovery timeline
- 2012Named itZheng et al.
- 2012Family treeHan et al.
- 2015Family treeBoyd
- 2024Close relativeAvrahami et al.
- 2025Close relativeBertozzo et al.
Key papers
The research behind what we know of Yueosaurus
Named it
Named a small ornithischian from a partial skeleton with distinctive features in its neck, tail and shoulder blade.
A new ornithischian dinosaur from the Cretaceous Liangtoutang Formation of Tiantai, Zhejiang Province, China. Cretaceous Research 34: 208-219
Read the paper : A new ornithischian dinosaur from the Cretaceous Liangtoutang Formation of Tiantai, Zhejiang Province, China (opens in a new tab)Family tree
Compared Jeholosaurus body bones with other small ornithischians, found the upper arm of Yueosaurus slender like that of Jeholosaurus, and suggested the two might be close.
Postcranial anatomy ofJeholosaurus shangyuanensis(Dinosauria, Ornithischia) from the Lower Cretaceous Yixian Formation of China. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 32: 1370-1395
Read the paper : Postcranial anatomy ofJeholosaurus shangyuanensis(Dinosauria, Ornithischia) from the Lower Cretaceous Yixian Formation of China (opens in a new tab)Family tree
A broad family-tree analysis grouped Yueosaurus with Koreanosaurus near the base of Neornithischia.
The systematic relationships and biogeographic history of ornithischian dinosaurs. PeerJ 3: e1523
Read the paper : The systematic relationships and biogeographic history of ornithischian dinosaurs (opens in a new tab)Close relative
Described Fona, a small, partly burrowing relative, and showed that a shoulder-blade pit used to tell Yueosaurus apart varies between Fona specimens.
A new semi‐fossorial thescelosaurine dinosaur from the Cenomanian‐age Mussentuchit Member of the Cedar Mountain Formation, Utah. The Anatomical Record 307: 3717-3781
Read the paper : A new semi‐fossorial thescelosaurine dinosaur from the Cenomanian‐age Mussentuchit Member of the Cedar Mountain Formation, Utah (opens in a new tab)Close relative
Described a flattened young skull of Jeholosaurus and noted that some studies link Jeholosaurus and Yueosaurus through their body bones.
Anatomical description and digital reconstruction of the skull of Jeholosaurus shangyuanensis (Dinosauria, Ornithopoda) from China. PLOS ONE 20: e0312519
Read the paper : Anatomical description and digital reconstruction of the skull of Jeholosaurus shangyuanensis (Dinosauria, Ornithopoda) from China (opens in a new tab)
Close relatives
Other members of Thescelosauridae
Sources: Wikidata