Huayangosaurus
Huayangosaurus was a small, plant-eating dinosaur that lived about 165 million years ago in what is now China. It had a double row of bony plates and spikes along its back and tail, which it probably used for defense and showing off. This early stegosaur was much smaller than its famous relative Stegosaurus.1
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Fun facts
Huayangosaurus had a beak with teeth in the front of its mouth, a feature that later stegosaurs lost.2
Its bony plates had vein-like cavities that may have helped control body temperature or change color to scare off predators or attract mates.2
Huayangosaurus lived about 20 million years before Stegosaurus appeared in North America.1
It had two pairs of long spikes at the end of its tail, forming a weapon called a thagomizer.1
Fossils of at least twelve individual Huayangosaurus were found together in the Dashanpu Quarry.1
Its front legs were longer than those of later stegosaurs, and it had a broader skull.2
Most asked questions about Huayangosaurus
?How big was Huayangosaurus?
About 4 metres (13 ft) long and weighed around 500 kilograms (1,100 lb). It was one of the smallest known stegosaurians.1
?What did Huayangosaurus eat?
It was a plant-eater, or herbivore.2
?When did Huayangosaurus live?
It lived during the Middle Jurassic, about 165 million years ago.1
?Where was Huayangosaurus found?
Its fossils were discovered in the Dashanpu Quarry near Zigong in Sichuan Province, China.12
?Did Huayangosaurus have feathers?
No, the sources do not mention feathers. It had bony plates and spikes on its back and tail.1
?Was Huayangosaurus bigger than Stegosaurus?
No, it was much smaller. Stegosaurus was about 9 metres long, while Huayangosaurus was only about 4 metres long.1
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For dino experts
- Scientific name
- Huayangosaurus
- Named by
- Dong et al. 19824
- Group
- Plated dinos
- Family / clade
- Huayangosauridae4
- Classification
- Ornithischia > Stegosauria > Thyreophora4
- Age of the rocks
- 171 to 155 million years (Bajocian / Oxfordian)4
- Rock formations
- Shaximiao4
- Countries
- China4
- Fossil records
- 1 in the Paleobiology Database4
- Discovery
- Huayangosaurus was named in 1982 by Chinese paleontologists Dong Zhiming, Tang Zilu, and Zhou Shiwu, based on fossils found in 1979 and 1980 at Dashanpu Quarry in Sichuan, China.1
- Still debated
- Scientists are not sure whether the bony plates on Huayangosaurus were mainly used for defense, display, or regulating body temperature.2
Where the facts come from
- Huayangosaurus (en.wikipedia.org)
- Dinosaurs - Huayangosaurus taibaii - The Australian Museum (australian.museum)
- science-resources.co.uk - Dinosaurs: Huayangosaurus (science-resources.co.uk)
- Huayangosaurus in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.
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