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Original drawing of Huayangosaurus

plated dinosaur

Huayangosaurus

Say it like this: “HWAH-YAHNG-o-SAWR-us”

Huayangosaurus taibaii

Huayangosaurus 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
1982 · Dong, Z.; Tang, Z.; Zhou, S. W.
Hip height
1.4 m · 5 ft
Length
4 m · 13 ft
Weight
500 kg · 1,102 lb
Found in
China · Shaximiao
Food and walking
Herbivore · Four legs
Kind
plated dinosaur · Stegosaur
Family branch
Stegosauria

The story in short

In 1982, Z. Dong and colleagues published the name Huayangosaurus. The name means “huayang lizard.”

It lived in 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 Huayangosaurus at a length near 4 m, hips about 1.4 m high, and a body mass around 500 kg.

On the family tree it sits in Stegosauria, among the plated dinosaurs.

Close relatives