Open Paleo

Jinzhousaurus

Wang & Xu, 2001 jeen-joh-SAWR-us

Named for the town of Jinzhou in Liaoning, China, where the fossils were found, combined with Greek 'sauros' meaning 'lizard'.

125.8–121.4 million years ago Barremian, Early Cretaceous
Early Cretaceous stages

Jinzhousaurus is a genus of hadrosauroid dinosaur of the Early Cretaceous of China. The type species is Jinzhousaurus yangi. The generic name refers to the town Jinzhou. The specific name honors Yang Zhongjian is the founder of Chinese paleontology. It was first described by Wang Xiao-lin and Xu Xing in 2001.

Diagnosis

  1. Antorbital fenestra absent (unique among iguanodontids, similar to hadrosaurids)
  2. Frontal excluded from orbital formation, extending anteriorly close to orbit's anterior border
  3. Fused frontals with sinuous posterior suture to parietal
  4. Triangular maxilla in lateral view with long narrow rostral extension
  5. Curved quadrate shaft
  6. Supratemporal fenestra oval, narrower anteriorly, long axis anterolaterally oriented
  7. Predentary with very weakly bifurcated ventral process
  8. Dentary with straight dorsal and ventral margins (more than 16 dentary teeth increasing posteriorly)

Species

Jinzhousaurus yangi Wang & Xu, 2001

Type species

Named for Yang Zhongjian, the founder of Chinese paleontology.

Holotype
IVPP V12691 , Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology
Material
Nearly complete skeleton with complete skull, ~7 m total length. Skull ~500 mm long, 280 mm high. Exposed elements include premaxilla, maxilla, nasal, lacrymal, prefrontal, frontal, postorbital, palpebral, parietal, jugal, quadratojugal, angular, surangular, quadrate, paraoccipital process, hyoid, predentary, dentary, and teeth.
Horizon
Dawangzhangzi Member, Yixian Formation, Barremian, Early Cretaceous , 125.8–121.4 million years ago
Locality
Baicaigou, Toutai, Liaoning, China

References

  1. Wang, X.; Xu, X. (2001). A new iguanodontid (Jinzhousaurus yangi gen. et sp. nov.) from the Yixian Formation of western Liaoning, China. Chinese Science Bulletin 46(19): 1669-1672. Springer Science and Business Media LLC. doi:10.1007/bf02900633

    Treats Dakangpu and Dawangzhangzi as one horizon, using both a member and a bed rank word for it in the same paper.

    wang2001a
  2. Paul, G. S. (2024). The Princeton Field Guide to Dinosaurs (3rd ed.). Princeton University Press.

    Source of the mass estimate.

    paul2024a
  3. Jones, B. (2026). The Princeton Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs: Ornithischians. Princeton University Press.

    Source of the hip height estimate, and the appearance features.

    jones2026a