Tianyulong

Say it like this: “tyen-YOO-long”

Tianyulong confuciusi

Tianyulong ate plants and walked on two legs. It lived in the Middle Jurassic · Late Jurassic. Bones have been found in China.

Quiz me on Tianyulong

When: Middle Jurassic · Late Jurassic (Callovian · Oxfordian) · roughly 165.3 to 154.8 million years ago
Named in: 2009 · Zheng, X. T.; You, H. L.; Xu, X.; Dong, Z. M.
Hip height: 0.2 m · 1 ft
Length: 0.7 m · 2 ft
Weight: 0 kg · 0 lb
Found in: China · Tiaojishan
Food and walking: Herbivore · Two legs
Kind: bird-hipped dinosaur · Ornithischian
Family branch: Heterodontosauridae

The story in short

In 2009, X. T. Zheng and colleagues published the name Tianyulong.

Fossils referred to Tianyulong date to the Middle Jurassic · Late Jurassic (Callovian · Oxfordian), roughly 165.3 to 154.8 million years ago. Finds come from China, including the Tiaojishan Formation. It was a herbivore and walked on two legs.

Published estimates put Tianyulong at a length near 0.7 m, hips about 0.2 m high, and a body mass around 0 kg.

On the family tree it sits in Heterodontosauridae, among the bird-hipped dinosaurs.

Close relatives

Echinodon

Echinodon becklesii

Early Cretaceous (Berriasian) · roughly 143.1 to 137.1 million years ago

Fruitadens

Fruitadens haagarorum

Late Jurassic (Kimmeridgian) · roughly 154.8 to 149.2 million years ago

Geranosaurus

Geranosaurus atavus

Early Jurassic (Sinemurian · Pliensbachian) · roughly 199.5 to 184.2 million years ago