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Yizhousaurus

Say it: YEE-zhou-SORE-us

Name means: “Yizhou lizard, named after the Chuxiong Yi Autonomous Prefecture in Yunnan, China”1

Ate: PlantsLong-necksEarly Jurassic

Yizhousaurus was an early long-necked dinosaur that lived in what is now China during the Early Jurassic. It had a beautifully preserved skull, which is rare for its kind. This plant-eater walked on four legs and grew to about the size of a small bus.2 1

Lived

200 to 193 million years ago3

Early Jurassic

Fossils found in

Yunnan Province, China, in the Lufeng Formation1 2

Food

Plants3 2

Length

7 m2

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

How big was it?

How long was it?

as long as 7 dogs nose to tailas long as 39 bananas end to end

How big was Yizhousaurus compared to YOU?

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cool stuff

Fun facts

Yizhousaurus is one of the most complete early sauropodiform dinosaurs ever found, with a nearly whole skull and skeleton.1

Its skull had a short snout and a high, dome-shaped profile, which is unusual for early long-necked dinosaurs.2

The holotype skeleton was discovered in 2002 and excavated over about a month in October and November.1

Yizhousaurus lived during the Sinemurian age of the Early Jurassic, about 199 to 193 million years ago.3

Its name was first used in a 2010 scientific meeting, but it was not officially described until 2018.1

The fourth and fifth tail vertebrae of the holotype are fused together, which scientists think was a result of disease or injury.2

AI-made picture of Yizhousaurus — An AI-made picture of how Yizhousaurus 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: Yizhousaurus
Named by: Zhang et al. 20183
Group: Long-necks
Family / clade: Sauropodiformes3
Classification: Sauropodomorpha3
Age of the rocks: 200 to 193 million years (Sinemurian)3
Rock formations: Lufeng3
Countries: China3
Fossil records: 1 in the Paleobiology Database3
Discovery: The only known skeleton of Yizhousaurus was found in 2002 near Duwafang Village in Yunnan, China. It was named and described by scientists in 2018, after being mentioned at a conference in 2010.1 2
Still debated: Scientists are still debating exactly where Yizhousaurus sits on the family tree of sauropodiforms, because its skeleton has a mix of old and new features.2

Where the facts come from

Yizhousaurus (en.wikipedia.org)
A new sauropodiform dinosaur with a ‘sauropodan’ skull from the Lower Jurassic Lufeng Formation of Yunnan Province, China (nature.com)
Yizhousaurus 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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