Jintasaurus
Jintasaurus was a plant-eating dinosaur that lived in what is now China during the Early Cretaceous. It had a beak like a duck and was an early relative of the famous duck-billed hadrosaurs.12
When did it live?
Fun facts
Jintasaurus is known from only one partial skull, which includes the bones behind the eye but lacks the cheek and jaw bones.1
Its discovery helped scientists think that duck-billed dinosaurs (hadrosaurs) first evolved in Asia.1
Jintasaurus lived about 121 to 113 million years ago, during the Aptian age of the Early Cretaceous.2
The only known fossil of Jintasaurus was found in the Xiagou Formation, which is made of mudstone from an ancient lake or river.2
Jintasaurus is a hadrosauromorph, meaning it is a close cousin of the duck-billed dinosaurs but not quite one itself.1
Most asked questions about Jintasaurus
?What does the name Jintasaurus mean?
It means 'Jinta County dragon' after the place in China where it was found.1
?Was Jintasaurus a duck-billed dinosaur?
No, it was a close cousin of duck-billed dinosaurs, but not one itself. Scientists call it a hadrosauriform.1
?Where was Jintasaurus found?
In northwestern China, in Gansu Province, near Jiuquan.1
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For dino experts
- Scientific name
- Jintasaurus
- Named by
- You and Li 20092
- Group
- Beaked plant-eaters
- Family / clade
- Hadrosauroidea2
- Classification
- Ornithischia > Ornithopoda > Iguanodontia2
- Age of the rocks
- 121 to 113 million years (Aptian)2
- Rock formations
- Xiagou2
- Countries
- China2
- Fossil records
- 1 in the Paleobiology Database2
- Discovery
- Jintasaurus was named by Chinese paleontologists Hai-Lu You and Da-Qing Li in 2009, based on a partial skull found in Jiuquan, Gansu.12
- Still debated
- Scientists are not sure exactly how big Jintasaurus was, because only a skull has been found.1
Where the facts come from
- Jintasaurus (en.wikipedia.org)
- Jintasaurus in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.
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