Dinosaurs A to Z
Ankylosauridae

Zhongyuansaurus

"Zhongyuan lizard"

Generic ankylosaur body-plan outline
You 1.8 m (5.9 ft) tall
Zhongyuansaurus 5 m (16.4 ft) long
as long as 3 people standing fingertip to fingertip
generic ankylosaur body plan, scaled to length — not a silhouette of Zhongyuansaurus
Length
5 m (16.4 ft)
Period
Early Cretaceous (145–100 Mya)
Place
China
Food
Herbivore
Clade
Ankylosauridae Dinosauria Ornithischia Thyreophora Ankylosauria Club-tailed armored herbivores.
Zhongyuansaurus reconstruction by Connor Ashbridge
Reconstruction · Connor Ashbridge (CC-BY)

Zhongyuansaurus (meaning “Zhongyuan lizard”) is an extinct genus of ankylosaurid dinosaurs known from the Early Cretaceous Haoling Formation of what is now Henan Province, China. The genus contains two species, Z. luoyangensis, named in 2007, and Z. junchangi, named in 2025, both known from a single partial skeleton. Zhongyuansaurus is similar to Gobisaurus, prompting some researchers to regard the genera as synonymous.

What we know

  • Named by Xu et al., 2007.
  • Fossils found in China.

What we guess

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