Dino card No. 1748 of 2,027

Taohelong

Say it: TAO-heh-long

Name means: “dragon from the Taohe River”1

Ate: PlantsArmoured dinosEarly Cretaceous

Taohelong was a slow, armoured dinosaur that munched on plants. It had bony plates all over its back and hips, like a built-in suit of armour. This dinosaur lived in what is now China during the Early Cretaceous period.3 1

Lived

126 to 113 million years ago3

Early Cretaceous

Fossils found in

Guanmengou No. 4 bonebed, Lanzhou‑Minhe Basin, Gansu Province, China3 1

Food

Plants3

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

cool stuff

Fun facts

Taohelong is the first polacanthine ankylosaur ever found in Asia. Its closest relative is Polacanthus from England.1

Its armour included a special shield made of many different‑sized bony plates that were arranged in a messy, irregular pattern.1

Scientists know Taohelong from a set of back bones, ribs, a hip bone, and armour pieces. No skull has been found yet.3

The type specimen is stored at the Gansu Dinosaur Museum under the number GSDM 00021.3

Taohelong lived between about 126 and 113 million years ago, during the Barremian to Aptian ages of the Early Cretaceous.3

AI-made picture of Taohelong — An AI-made picture of how Taohelong 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 Taohelong

?How big was Taohelong?

Scientists do not know its exact size because only a few bones have been found, but it was probably about 4 to 5 metres long, similar to its relative Polacanthus.2 1

?What did Taohelong eat?

Taohelong ate plants. It was an armoured dinosaur that munched on low-growing vegetation.2

?When did Taohelong live?

Taohelong lived during the Early Cretaceous period, about 126 to 113 million years ago.2 3

?Where was Taohelong found?

Taohelong was discovered in north-central China, in the Lanzhou-Minhe Basin near the border of Yongjing and Lintao counties.2 1

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For dino experts

Scientific name: Taohelong
Named by: Yang et al. 20133
Group: Armoured dinos
Family / clade: Nodosauridae3
Classification: Ornithischia > Ankylosauria > Nodosauridae > Thyreophora3
Age of the rocks: 126 to 113 million years (Barremian / Aptian)3
Rock formations: 53
Countries: China3
Fossil records: 1 in the Paleobiology Database3
Discovery: Taohelong was named in 2013 by Yang Jing‑Tao, You Hai‑Lu, Li Da‑Qing and Kong De‑Lai. The fossils were found in the Hekou Group of the Lanzhou‑Minhe Basin in north‑central China.1
Still debated: Scientists are not sure exactly how big Taohelong grew, because only a few bones have been discovered.3

Where the facts come from

First discovery of polacanthine ankylosaur dinosaur in Asia (vertpala.ac.cn)
Taohelong (en.wikipedia.org)
Taohelong 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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