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long-neck giant
Datousaurus
Say it like this: “DAH-TOH-SAWR-us”
Datousaurus bashanensis
Datousaurus ate plants and walked on four legs. It lived in the Middle Jurassic · Late Jurassic. Bones have been found in China.
- When
- Middle Jurassic · Late Jurassic (Bajocian–Oxfordian) · roughly 170.9 to 154.8 million years ago
- Named in
- 1984 · Dong, Z.; Tang, Z.
- Hip height
- Not established
- Length
- 15 m · 49 ft
- Weight
- Not established
- Found in
- China · Shaximiao
- Food and walking
- Herbivore · Four legs
- Kind
- long-neck giant · Sauropod
- Family branch
- Eusauropoda
The story in short
The genus Datousaurus dates to 1984, the year Z. Dong and Z. Tang described it. The name means “chieftain lizard.”
Fossils referred to Datousaurus date to the Middle Jurassic · Late Jurassic (Bajocian–Oxfordian), roughly 170.9 to 154.8 million years ago. Finds come from China, including the Shaximiao Formation. It was a herbivore and walked on four legs.
Published estimates put Datousaurus at a length near 15 m.
On the family tree it sits in Eusauropoda, among the sauropod dinosaurs.
Close relatives
Algoasaurus
Algoasaurus bauri
Early Cretaceous (Berriasian · Valanginian) · roughly 143.1 to 132.6 million years ago
Atlasaurus
Atlasaurus imelakei
Middle Jurassic (Bathonian) · roughly 168.2 to 165.3 million years ago
Bagualia
Bagualia alba
Early Jurassic (Toarcian) · roughly 184.2 to 174.7 million years ago