Dinosaurs A to Z
Huayangosauridae

Bashanosaurus primitivus

"Bashan lizard"

Generic stegosaur body-plan outline
You 1.8 m (5.9 ft) tall
Bashanosaurus 5 m (16.4 ft) long
as long as 3 people standing fingertip to fingertip
generic stegosaur body plan, scaled to length — not a silhouette of Bashanosaurus
Length
5 m (16.4 ft)
Period
Middle Jurassic (167.5–164.5 Mya)
Place
China
Food
Herbivore
Clade
Huayangosauridae
Bashanosaurus reconstruction by Ddinodan
Reconstruction · Ddinodan (CC-BY)

Bashanosaurus (meaning “Bashan lizard”) is an extinct genus of stegosaurian dinosaur from the Middle Jurassic (Bathonian age) Shaximiao Formation of Yunyang County, China. The genus contains a single species, Bashanosaurus primitivus, known from incomplete skeletons belonging to three individuals. It is one of the basal most stegosaurs, as well as one of the oldest known stegosaurs, along with Adratiklit, Isaberrysaura, and Thyreosaurus.

What we know

  • Named by Dai et al., 2022.
  • Body length estimated at about 5 m.
  • Fossils found in China.

What we guess

The reconstruction notes for Bashanosaurus — soft tissue, color, behavior — haven't been written up yet. Only the recorded basics above are filled in so far.