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Wuerhosaurus

 

 
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Wuerhosaurus
 
 
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Wuerhosaurus is a genus
Genus

A genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the classification of living and fossil organisms. The taxonomic ranks are domain , kingdom , phylum, class , order , family , genus, and species....
 of stegosaurid
Stegosauria

Known colloquially as stegosaurs, the Stegosauria are a group of Herbivore dinosaurs of the Jurassic and Early Cretaceous Period , being found mostly in the Northern Hemisphere, predominantly in what is now North America and China....
 dinosaur
Dinosaur

Dinosaurs were the dominant vertebrate animals of Landform ecosystems for over 160 million years, from the late Triassic Period until the end of the Cretaceous Period , when most of them became extinct in the Cretaceous?Tertiary extinction event....
 from the Early Cretaceous
Cretaceous

The Cretaceous , usually abbreviated K for its German translation Kreide, is a geologic period from circa to million years ago . In the geologic timescale, the Cretaceous follows on the Jurassic period and is followed by the Paleogene period....
 Period of China
People's Republic of China

The People's Republic of China , commonly known as China, is the largest country in East Asia and the List of countries by population in the world with over 1.3 billion people, approximately a fifth of the world's population....
. It was a broad bodied animal roughly 6 metre
Metre

The metre or meter is a Unit of measurement of length. It is the SI base unit of length in the metric system and in the International System of Units , used around the world for general and scientific purposes....
s long (20 ft). Its dorsal plates were much rounder than other stegosaurids.

uerhosaurus homheni is the type species, described by Dong Zhiming
Dong Zhiming

Dong Zhiming , from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology in Beijing, is one of China's leading paleontologists. He began working at the IVPP in 1962, learning from Yang Zhongjian who was director at the time....
 in 1973 from the Tugulu Group in Xinjiang
Xinjiang

Xinjiang is an autonomous region of China of the People's Republic of China. It is a large, sparsely populated area, spanning over 1.6 million sq....
, western China. The remains consisted of a skull-less fragmentary skeleton and some bones from the tail of a second individual.






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Encyclopedia


Wuerhosaurus is a genus
Genus

A genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the classification of living and fossil organisms. The taxonomic ranks are domain , kingdom , phylum, class , order , family , genus, and species....
 of stegosaurid
Stegosauria

Known colloquially as stegosaurs, the Stegosauria are a group of Herbivore dinosaurs of the Jurassic and Early Cretaceous Period , being found mostly in the Northern Hemisphere, predominantly in what is now North America and China....
 dinosaur
Dinosaur

Dinosaurs were the dominant vertebrate animals of Landform ecosystems for over 160 million years, from the late Triassic Period until the end of the Cretaceous Period , when most of them became extinct in the Cretaceous?Tertiary extinction event....
 from the Early Cretaceous
Cretaceous

The Cretaceous , usually abbreviated K for its German translation Kreide, is a geologic period from circa to million years ago . In the geologic timescale, the Cretaceous follows on the Jurassic period and is followed by the Paleogene period....
 Period of China
People's Republic of China

The People's Republic of China , commonly known as China, is the largest country in East Asia and the List of countries by population in the world with over 1.3 billion people, approximately a fifth of the world's population....
. It was a broad bodied animal roughly 6 metre
Metre

The metre or meter is a Unit of measurement of length. It is the SI base unit of length in the metric system and in the International System of Units , used around the world for general and scientific purposes....
s long (20 ft). Its dorsal plates were much rounder than other stegosaurids.

Discovery and species

Wuerhosaurus homheni is the type species, described by Dong Zhiming
Dong Zhiming

Dong Zhiming , from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology in Beijing, is one of China's leading paleontologists. He began working at the IVPP in 1962, learning from Yang Zhongjian who was director at the time....
 in 1973 from the Tugulu Group in Xinjiang
Xinjiang

Xinjiang is an autonomous region of China of the People's Republic of China. It is a large, sparsely populated area, spanning over 1.6 million sq....
, western China. The remains consisted of a skull-less fragmentary skeleton and some bones from the tail of a second individual. A smaller species from the Ejinhoro Formation in the Ordos Basin in Inner Mongolia
Inner Mongolia

Inner Mongolia is the Mongols autonomous region of China of the People's Republic of China, located in the country's north.Inner Mongolia borders, from east to west, the provinces of Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning, Hebei, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Ningxia, and Gansu, while to the north it borders Mongolia and Russia....
, W. ordosensis, was formalized by the same researcher in 1993.

Distribution

W. homheni
  • Tugulu Group
    Tugulu Group

    The is a geological Formation in Xinjiang, China whose strata date back to the Early Cretaceous. Dinosaur remains are among the fossils that have been recovered from the formation....
W. ordosensis
  • Ejinhoro Formation
    Ejinhoro Formation

    The is a geological Formation in Inner Mongolia, north People's Republic of China, whose strata date back to the Early Cretaceous period.Dinosaur remains are among the fossils that have been recovered from the formation....


Paleobiology

It was lower to the ground than most other stegosaurids; scientists believe that this was an adaptation to let it feed on low-growing vegetation. Unlike Stegosaurus
Stegosaurus

Stegosaurus is a genus of Stegosauria Thyreophora dinosaur from the Late Jurassic Period in what is now western North America. In 2006, a specimen of Stegosaurus was announced from Portugal, showing that they were present in Europe as well....
, Wuerhosaurus had shorter, rounded plates, whose purpose is debated. Wuerhosaurus, like other stegosaurids, had a thagomizer
Thagomizer

The thagomizer, or tail spikes, is an arrangement of four to ten spikes on the tails of particular dinosaurs of the cladistics Stegosauria, of which Stegosaurus stenops is the most familiar....
 on the end of its tail, which featured four bony spikes that would most likely have been used for self-defense.

External links

  • at Thescelosaurus!