Glossary YAL - YUN
Homepage > Glossary Y
YALEOSAURUS
(pronounced YALE-oh-SAWR-us) Yaleosaurus (named by von Huene in 1932,
in honor of the Yale Peabody Museum) is another name for the dinosaur
Anchisaurus (meaning: "near lizard"). It was a prosauropod from
the early Jurassic Period, about 200 to 188 million years ago. This plant-eater
was 6.5 to 8 feet (2 to 2.5 m) long and was a quadruped that could also
walk on two legs. It had serrated, leaf-shaped teeth, a small head, a
long neck, a long body, long, thin feet, and a long tail. Almost complete
fossils have been found in Connecticut and Massachusetts, USA. Yaleosaurus
was named by paleontologist O. Marsh in 1885.
YANDUSAURUS
(pronounced YEN-doo-SAWR-us) Yandusaurus (meaning: Yandu, the "Salt
Capital" of Sichuan Province, China) was a plant-eating dinosaur
from the mid-Jurassic Period, about 175-163 million years ago. This primitive
hypsilophodontid ornithischian was bipedal and lightly built. It was about
5 ft (1.5 m) long. Yandusaurus was named by Dong, Chang, Li, and Zhou
in 1978. The type species is Y. hongheensis. Fossils were found in China.
YANGCHUANOSAURUS
(pronounced YAHNG-CHWAHN-oh-SAWR-us) Yangchuanosaurus was a meat-eating
dinosaur, a theropod with small arms and big jaws. It was similar to Allosaurus.
It dates from the late Jurassic perid, about 163 to 145 million years
ago.
YAVERLANDIA
Yaverlandia (named for Yaverland Point where it was found) was a thick-skulled
plant-eating dinosaur, an early pachycephalosaur. Yaverlandia was about
3 feet (1 m) long. It lived during the early Cretaceous period, roughly
126-121 million years ago. Only a partial skull has been found, on Yaverland
Point, Isle of Wight, England. The type species is Y. bitholus; bilothus
means "two domes." Yaverlandia was named by paleontologist Peter
Galton in 1971.
YOUNG CHUNG CHIEN
Young Chung Chien is a Chinese paleontologist who named the following
dinosaurs: Chingkankousaurus (1958), Dianchungosaurus (1982), Lufengocephalus
(1974), Lufengosaurus (1941), Lukousaurus (1948), the family Mamenchisauridae
(with Zhao Xijin, 1972), Mamenchisaurus (1954), Omeisaurus (1939), Sanpasaurus
(1946), Sinocoelurus (1942), Sinosaurus (1948), Tawasaurus (1982), Tienshanosaurus
(1937), Tsintaosaurus (1958), the family Yunnanosaurid (1942), and Yunnanosaurus
(1942).
YUCATÁN PENINSULA
The Yucatán peninsula is located in eastern Mexico, jutting into the Gulf
of Mexico. A huge asteroid or comet probably hit the Earth 65 million
years ago off the Yucatán Peninsula, causing the catastrophic K-T extinction.
YUNNANOSAURUS
(pronounced YOU-NAN-oh-SAWR-us) Yunnanosaurus (meaning: Yunnan [Province]
lizard) was a large plant-eating dinosaur from the early mid-Jurassic
Period, about 208-194 million years ago. This primitive sauropodomorph
had a long neck, long tail, and a small, narrow head with a short snout.
Its 60+ teeth were similar to more advanced sauropods. It was about 23
ft (7 m) long. Yunnanosaurus was named by Young Chung Chien in 1942. The
type species is Y. huangi. About 20 fossil skeletons were found in China.
It is similar to Lufengosaurus.