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Baiyinosaurus

Say it: bye-YIN-oh-SORE-us

Name means: “Baiyin reptile”1

Ate: PlantsPlated dinosMiddle Jurassic

Baiyinosaurus was an early stegosaur that lived in China during the Middle Jurassic. It had a row of plates and spikes along its back and tail, and it walked on all four legs munching plants.1

Lived

168 to 165 million years ago3

Middle Jurassic

Fossils found in

Pingchuan District, Baiyin City, Gansu Province, China3 1

Food

Plants3

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

cool stuff

Fun facts

Baiyinosaurus is the only stegosaur named from Gansu Province, China.1

Its frontal bone is wider than long, a unique feature among stegosaurs.2

The fossils were discovered in 2016 by Li Daqing and his team.1

Baiyinosaurus lived about 168 to 165 million years ago, during the late Bathonian age.3

Its back vertebrae have short neural arches and broad neural spines, different from later stegosaurs.2

Baiyinosaurus is a transitional form between early armored dinosaurs and early stegosaurs.2

Nearby fossils include possible mamenchisaurid sauropods and large theropod teeth.1

AI-made picture of Baiyinosaurus — An AI-made picture of how Baiyinosaurus might have looked, made by a computer from what scientists know. It is a guess: the real animal may have looked different, and nobody knows its true colours.

you asked

Most asked questions about Baiyinosaurus

?How big was Baiyinosaurus?

Scientists do not know its exact size yet because only a partial skeleton has been found. It was a medium-sized stegosaur, but no total length or weight has been estimated from the known bones.1 2

?What did Baiyinosaurus eat?

Baiyinosaurus was a plant-eater (herbivore). It had leaf-shaped teeth in its jaws and a beak at the front of its mouth for cropping low-growing plants.1 2

?When did Baiyinosaurus live?

Baiyinosaurus lived during the Middle Jurassic period, about 168 to 165 million years ago (late Bathonian age).1 2

?Where was Baiyinosaurus found?

Its fossils were discovered in the Wangjiashan Formation in Pingchuan District, Baiyin City, Gansu Province, China.1 2

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For dino experts

Scientific name: Baiyinosaurus
Named by: Li et al. 20243
Group: Plated dinos
Family / clade: Huayangosauridae3
Classification: Ornithischia > Stegosauria > Thyreophora3
Age of the rocks: 168 to 165 million years (Bathonian)3
Rock formations: Wangjiashan3
Countries: China3
Fossil records: 1 in the Paleobiology Database3
Discovery: Baiyinosaurus was named in 2024 by Li Ning and colleagues based on a partial skeleton found in Gansu, China. The name comes from Baiyin City and the Baojishan Basin.1 2
Still debated: Scientists debate whether the plates and spikes on stegosaurs like Baiyinosaurus were used for display, species recognition, or temperature control.1

Where the facts come from

Baiyinosaurus (en.wikipedia.org)
A new stegosaur (Dinosauria: Ornithischia) from the Middle Jurassic of Gansu Province, China (pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
Baiyinosaurus in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.

Every fact on this page has a number that points to its source. If we got something wrong, sorry, we are dino fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.

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