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Gyposaurus

Say it: JY-po-SORE-us

Name means: “vulture lizard”1

Ate: PlantsLong-necksEarly Jurassic

Gyposaurus was an early long-necked dinosaur that lived during the Early Jurassic. It walked on two legs and ate plants. Some scientists think it might actually be a young Lufengosaurus.1 2

Lived

201 to 175 million years ago3

Early Jurassic

Fossils found in

South Africa and Yunnan Province, China1 2

Food

Plants3

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

cool stuff

Fun facts

The name Gyposaurus means 'vulture lizard' because scientists once thought early long-necked dinosaurs were meat-eaters.1

The first Gyposaurus fossils were found in South Africa and named by Robert Broom in 1911.1

Some scientists think the Chinese species 'Gyposaurus sinensis' is actually a young Lufengosaurus, not a separate dinosaur.2

The fossils of 'Gyposaurus sinensis' were found in the Lufeng Formation in Yunnan, China, in the same area as Lufengosaurus.2

The bones of 'Gyposaurus sinensis' show that the animals were not fully grown when they died, with unfused vertebrae.2

Gyposaurus lived during the Early Jurassic, about 196 to 189 million years ago.1

AI-made picture of Gyposaurus — An AI-made picture of how Gyposaurus 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.

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For dino experts

Scientific name: Gyposaurus
Named by: Broom 19113
Group: Long-necks
Family / clade: Anchisauridae3
Classification: Sauropodomorpha3
Age of the rocks: 201 to 175 million years (Hettangian / Toarcian)3
Rock formations: Lufeng, Zhenzhuchong3
Countries: China3
Fossil records: 9 in the Paleobiology Database3
Discovery: Gyposaurus was named by Scottish doctor Robert Broom in 1911 from a partial skeleton found in South Africa. The Chinese species 'Gyposaurus sinensis' was named by Yang Zhongjian in 1941.1
Still debated: Scientists still debate whether 'Gyposaurus sinensis' is a valid species or just a young Lufengosaurus.2

Where the facts come from

Gyposaurus (en.wikipedia.org)
Reassessment of ‘Gyposaurus’ sinensis Young, 1941 (Dinosauria: Sauropodomorpha) from the Early Jurassic Lufeng Basin, Yunnan Province, China | Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society | Oxford Academic (academic.oup.com)
Gyposaurus 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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