Omeisaurus Omeisaurus
"Omei lizard"
You 1.8 m (5.9 ft) tall
Omeisaurus 20 m (66 ft) long
12 people holding hands
- Length
- 20 m (66 ft)
- Period
- Middle Jurassic (168.2–154.8 Mya)
- Place
- South America · China
- Food
- Herbivore
- Clade
- Mamenchisauridae
Omeisaurus (meaning “Omei lizard”) is a genus of sauropod dinosaur from the Middle to Late Jurassic Period (Bathonian-Oxfordian stage) of what is now China. Its name comes from Mount Emei, where it was discovered in the lower Shaximiao Formation of Sichuan Province.
Like most sauropods, Omeisaurus was herbivorous and large. The largest species, O. tianfuensis, measured 18 – 20.2 m long, and weighed 8.5 – 9.8 MT. Other species were much smaller, as the type species O. junghsiensis reached a size of 14 m in length and 4 MT in body mass, and O. maoianus reached a size of 15 m and 5 MT.
What we know
- Named by Young, 1939.
- Body length estimated at about 20.2 m.
- Fossils found in South America and China.