Dinosaurs A to Z
Cetiosauridae

Protognathosaurus oxyodon

"early jaw lizard"

Generic sauropod body-plan outline
You 1.8 m (5.9 ft) tall
Protognathosaurus 5 m (16.4 ft) long
as long as 3 people standing fingertip to fingertip
generic sauropod body plan, scaled to length — not a silhouette of Protognathosaurus
Length
5 m (16.4 ft)
Period
Middle Jurassic (168.2–161.5 Mya)
Place
China
Food
Herbivore
Clade
Cetiosauridae

Protognathosaurus (meaning “early jaw lizard”) is a genus of herbivorous sauropod dinosaur from the Middle Jurassic Lower Shaximiao Formation in Sichuan, present-day China.

What we know

  • Named by Zhang, 1988.
  • Fossils found in China.

What we guess

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