Majiashanosaurus
Majiashanosaurus was a small, early marine reptile that swam in the warm seas of what is now China about 248 million years ago. It had a flat, round shoulder bone that looked like a dinner plate, which made it different from its relatives. This reptile lived alongside the early fish-lizard Chaohusaurus.1
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Fun facts
Majiashanosaurus is known from just one fossil: a nearly complete skeleton missing only the skull and a few tail bones.1
Its name comes from the place where it was found, Majiashan, plus the Greek word 'sauros' meaning lizard.1
The species name 'discocoracoidis' means 'disk-shaped coracoid' because its shoulder bone was round and flat like a coin.1
It lived during the Early Triassic period, just a few million years after the biggest mass extinction in Earth's history.1
The fossil was found lying on its back, so scientists see the underside of the skeleton.1
Majiashanosaurus had a curved upper arm bone and double-headed ribs in its neck, features that help identify it as a sauropterygian.1
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For dino experts
- Scientific name
- Majiashanosaurus
- Named by
- Jiang et al. 20142
- Group
- Sea reptiles
- Family / clade
- Eosauropterygia2
- Classification
- Sauropterygia2
- Age of the rocks
- 251 to 247 million years ()2
- Rock formations
- Nanlinghu2
- Countries
- China2
- Fossil records
- 1 in the Paleobiology Database2
- Discovery
- Majiashanosaurus was named in 2014 by a team of scientists led by Da-Yong Jiang. The single fossil was dug up at Majiashan in Anhui Province, China.1
- Still debated
- Scientists are not sure whether Majiashanosaurus was a true pachypleurosaur or a more primitive eosauropterygian.1
Where the facts come from
- Majiashanosaurus (en.wikipedia.org)
- Majiashanosaurus in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.
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