Dinosaurs A to Z
Chaoyangsauridae

Yinlong

"hidden dragon"

Generic ceratopsian body-plan outline
You 1.8 m (5.9 ft) tall
Yinlong 1.2 m (3.9 ft) long
as long as 2 people standing fingertip to fingertip
generic ceratopsian body plan, scaled to length — not a silhouette of Yinlong
Length
1.2 m (3.9 ft)
Period
Late Jurassic (158 Mya)
Place
China
Food
Herbivore
Clade
Chaoyangsauridae
Yinlong reconstruction by Nobu Tamura (http://spinops.blogspot.com)
Reconstruction · Nobu Tamura (http://spinops.blogspot.com) (CC-BY)

Yinlong (, meaning “hidden dragon”) is a genus of basal ceratopsian dinosaur from the Late Jurassic Period of China. By far the earliest known ceratopsian, it was a small, primarily bipedal herbivore.

What we know

  • Named by Xu et al., 2006.
  • Body length estimated at about 1.2 m.
  • Fossils found in China.

What we guess

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