Yandusaurus

Yandu lizard

• Yandu · Chinese · a historical name for the Zigong area of Sichuan, meaning 'salt capital'
• sauros · Greek · lizard

Yandusaurus means 'Yandu lizard'. Yandu is an old name for the Zigong region of Sichuan, China, which is famous for its salt industry. The name refers to the place where the fossils were found.

Named by

He

Year named

1979

Period

Middle Jurassic

Stages

Bathonian – Callovian

Found in

Lower Shaximiao Formation, Zigong, Sichuan, China

A small, early plant-eating ornithischian, usually treated as a basal neornithischian or ornithopod. The type species is Y. hongheensis. A second species, Y. multidens, has since been moved to its own genus, Hexinlusaurus. The stage range and the exact relationships of the type species are uncertain.