Jeholosaurus
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Jeholosaurus Temporal range: Early Cretaceous, 130 Ma |
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| Life restoration | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Clade: | Dinosauria |
| Order: | †Ornithischia |
| Family: | †Thescelosauridae |
| Genus: |
†Jeholosaurus Xu et al., 2000 |
| Species: | †J. shangyuanensis |
| Binomial name | |
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Jeholosaurus shangyuanensis Xu et al., 2000 |
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Jeholosaurus is a genus of ornithischian dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous Period. It is thought to have been a herbivorous small ornithopod, probably a basal member of the Euornithopoda.
The first two Jeholosaurus specimens were found in 2000 at Lujiatun near Beipiao City, Liaoning Province, China, and named and described the same year by Xu Xing, Wang Xioalin and You Hailu. The type and only known species is Jeholosaurus shangyuanensis. The generic name Jeholosaurus means "lizard from Jehol"; Jehol is the name of a historical province situated in western Liaoning and northern Hebei. The specific name refers to the geographical area of Shangyuan where the fossil site is located.
The type specimen of Jeholosaurus, on which the genus is based, is IVPP V 12529. It was found in a layer of the early Yixian Formation, dating from the early Aptian, about a 125 million years old. The layers consist of fluvial sandstone interspersed with tuff and it is thought that an enormous volcanic eruption occurred burying everything within a fifty to sixty mile radius. The holotype contains a compressed skull and a partial postcranial skeleton. The second specimen, IVPP V 12530, was referred to the species. It consists of a better preserved, perhaps smaller, skull and some neck vertebrae. Both specimens represent juvenile or at least subadult individuals.
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