Dinosaurs A to Z
Noasauridae

Limusaurus

Generic theropod body-plan outline
You 1.8 m (5.9 ft) tall
Limusaurus 1.7 m (5.6 ft) long
as long as 2 people standing fingertip to fingertip
generic theropod body plan, scaled to length — not a silhouette of Limusaurus
Length
1.7 m (5.6 ft)
Period
Late Jurassic (161–157 Mya)
Place
Asia · China
Food
Carnivore
Clade
Noasauridae
Limusaurus reconstruction by Nobu Tamura
Reconstruction · Nobu Tamura (CC-BY)

Limusaurus is a genus of theropod dinosaur that lived in what is now China during the Late Jurassic, around 161 to 157 million years ago. The type and only species Limusaurus inextricabilis was described in 2009 from specimens found in the Upper Shishugou Formation in the Junggar Basin of China. The genus name consists of the Latin words for “mud” and “lizard”, and the species name means “impossible to extricate”, both referring to these specimens possibly dying after being mired. Limusaurus was a small, slender animal, about 1.7 m in length and 15 kg in weight, which had a long neck and legs but very small forelimbs (with reduced first and fourth fingers). It underwent a drastic morphological transformation as it aged: while juveniles were toothed, these teeth were completely lost and replaced by a beak with age.

What we know

  • Named by Xu et al., 2009.
  • Body length estimated at about 1.7 m.
  • Fossils found in Asia and China.

What we guess

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