Outline: a typical early sauropodomorph
Yunnanosaurus
yoo-NAN-oh-SORE-us
"Yunnan lizard"
- Lived
- 201 to 193 million years ago, Early Jurassic
- Length
- about 7 m (23 ft)
- Group
- Early sauropodomorphs
- Found in
- China
- Named by
- Young 1940
Size comparison
To scale
Scale in metersOutline: typical early sauropodomorph shape
Where its fossils were found
The evidence
Today
195 million years ago
Field notes
About Yunnanosaurus
What it was like
Yunnanosaurus was a long-necked plant eater about 7 meters (23 feet) long. Its teeth were unusual: they were spoon-shaped and wore against each other, much like the teeth of later sauropods, which suggests it chewed in a similar way.
Its world
It lived in the Early Jurassic, in what is now China. It comes from the Lufeng Formation, where it shared the land with the plant eater Lufengosaurus and the crested predator Sinosaurus.
How it was found
Young named Yunnanosaurus in 1940. More than a dozen finds are known, including many skulls and skeletons.
Lived alongside
Found in the same rock formations
Close relatives
Other members of Sauropodiformes
Sources: WikidataNamed in: C.-C. Young. 1940. Preliminary notes on the Lufeng vertebrate fossils. Bulletin of the Geological Society of China 20(3-4):235-239