Bellusaurus

beautiful lizard

• bellus · Latin · beautiful, pretty
• sauros · Greek · lizard

Bellusaurus combines the Latin word "bellus" (beautiful or pretty) with the Greek "sauros" (lizard), so it means "beautiful lizard". The name was given by Dong Zhiming in 1990 for a sauropod known from many small, young individuals found together in a single bonebed.

Named by

Dong

Year named

1990

Period

Middle to Late Jurassic

Stages

Callovian – Oxfordian

Found in

Shishugou Formation, Junggar Basin, Xinjiang, China

A sauropod (type species Bellusaurus sui). Most known specimens are juveniles from a mass-death bonebed, which makes its adult size and exact relationships uncertain. It is often considered a early-diverging macronarian.