Gongxianosaurus

Gongxianosaurus is one of the most completely known early sauropods, with nearly the whole skeleton found except for the skull and hands.1

Its front legs were long, about 70 to 75 percent the length of its back legs, which helped it walk on all fours.1

Unlike later sauropods, Gongxianosaurus did not have air pockets (pleurocoels) in its vertebrae, so its backbone was solid and heavy.1

Its tail had simple, unbranched chevron bones, which is a primitive feature not seen in many later sauropods.1

The fossils were discovered in May 1997 during a geological survey near the village of Shibei in Sichuan, China.12

Gongxianosaurus lived at the same time as the prosauropod Lufengosaurus but earlier than the sauropod Shunosaurus.1