Xiaosaurus dashanpensis - Ornithischian Dinosaurs
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(shyow-sor-uhss)
"Dawn lizard"
Describer
Also Known As --
Type of Species dashanpensis
Order Ornithischia
SubOrder ?
InfraOrder --
Micro-Order --
SuperFamily --
Family ?
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Size 5 feet (1.5 meters) long
Period Middle Jurassic, 165 million years ago
Fossilsite Asia
Diet Herbivore
Xiaosaurus
is a dubious genus of small herbivorous dinosaur that lived 165 million
years ago in what is now Asia. Very little is known from this dinosaur.
One thing that is known from this dinosaur is its age. The rocks in which
it was found date back 165 million years. Xiaosaurus was a lightly build
dinosaur that walked on two legs, was probably built for speed. Each of
its feet had four toes.
Because of the lack of skeletal evidence, it is difficult to know what this dinosaur really looked like. However, its teeth resemble those teeth of Lesothosaurus. Xiaosaurus may have looked like this small lizard like dinosaur.
Discovery
In 1980, parts of the skeleton were found in China. These parts include
part of the skull and a few teeth. Although the lack of evidence, this
is sufficient to identify the creature as a new species.