Dinosaurs A to Z
Stegosauridae

Yingshanosaurus

"Yingshan lizard"

Generic stegosaur body-plan outline
You 1.8 m (5.9 ft) tall
Yingshanosaurus 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 Yingshanosaurus
Length
5 m (16.4 ft)
Period
Middle Jurassic (174–163 Mya)
Place
China
Food
Herbivore
Clade
Stegosauridae Dinosauria Ornithischia Thyreophora Stegosauria Stegosaurus and close relatives.

Yingshanosaurus (meaning “Yingshan lizard”) is an extinct genus of stegosaurian dinosaurs from the Middle Jurassic of what is now Southwestern China. It is known from a partial skeleton discovered in 1983, including back, sacrum, and tail vertebrae, forelimb and hindlimb bones, shoulder and hip bones, and several osteoderms, including plates and a shoulder spine. The genus contains a single species, Yingshanosaurus jichuanensis, named and described in 1994. For some time after its discovery and scientific description, many paleontologists were unaware of the Chinese research published on it and questioned its validity.

Like other stegosaurs, Yingshanosaurus was a slow-moving, quadrupedal herbivore. At 4 – 5 m long, it is a medium-sized member of this group. It’s forelimbs are relatively short in relation to its hindlimbs, and it has a wide torso with a broad back.

What we know

  • Named by Zhu, 1994.
  • Body length estimated at about 5 m.
  • Fossils found in China.

What we guess

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