Jinzhousaurus

Say it like this: “jeen-joh-SAWR-us”

Jinzhousaurus yangi

Jinzhousaurus ate plants and walked on two or four legs. It lived in the Early Cretaceous. Bones have been found in China.

Quiz me on Jinzhousaurus

When: Early Cretaceous (Barremian) · roughly 125.8 to 121.4 million years ago
Named in: 2001 · Wang, X.; Xu, X.
Hip height: 1.4 m · 5 ft
Length: 7 m · 23 ft
Weight: 700 kg · 1,543 lb
Found in: China · Yixian
Food and walking: Herbivore · Two or four legs
Kind: beaked plant-eater · Ornithopod
Family branch: Hadrosauroidea

The story in short

The genus Jinzhousaurus dates to 2001, the year X. Wang and X. Xu described it. The name honors a person tied to the fossil or its study.

Fossils referred to Jinzhousaurus date to the Early Cretaceous (Barremian), roughly 125.8 to 121.4 million years ago. Finds come from China, including the Yixian Formation. It was a herbivore and could move on two or four legs.

Published estimates put Jinzhousaurus at a length near 7 m, hips about 1.4 m high, and a body mass around 700 kg.

On the family tree it sits in Hadrosauroidea, among the ornithopod dinosaurs.

Close relatives

Altirhinus

Altirhinus kurzanovi

Early Cretaceous (Albian) · roughly 113.2 to 100.5 million years ago

Batyrosaurus

Batyrosaurus rozhdestvenskyi

Late Cretaceous (Santonian · Campanian) · roughly 85.7 to 72.2 million years ago

Bolong

Bolong yixianensis

Early Cretaceous (Barremian) · roughly 125.8 to 121.4 million years ago