Open Paleo

Yunganglong

Wang et al., 2013 yoon-GAHNG-long

Honoring the Yungang Grottoes (a UNESCO World Heritage site in Shanxi Province, China near the fossil locality) and Chinese long ('dragon'), meaning 'Yungang dragon'

100.5–93.9 million years ago Cenomanian, Late Cretaceous
Late Cretaceous stages

Yunganglong is an extinct genus of basal hadrosauroid dinosaur known from the early Late Cretaceous lower Zhumapu Formation of Zuoyun County, Shanxi Province of northeastern China. It contains a single species, Yunganglong datongensis.

Diagnosis

  1. Caudal surface of supraoccipital inclined steeply forward at approximately 45°
  2. Caudolaterally extended horizontal portion of paroccipital process and accompanying squamosal
  3. Pendent portion of paroccipital process does not curve cranially
  4. Intercondylar extensor groove of femur deep, U-shaped, partially enclosed by expansion of medial and lateral condyles

Species

Yunganglong datongensis Wang et al., 2013

Type species

Named for the city of Datong in northern Shanxi Province, China, the region where the holotype was found.

Holotype
SXMG V 00001 , Shanxi Museum of Geology
Material
Partial associated skeleton including caudodorsal skull, cervical and caudal vertebrae, ischia, femur, and tibia with astragalus.
Horizon
lower Zhumapu Formation, Cenomanian, Late Cretaceous , 100.5–93.9 million years ago
Locality
2011 Locality 7, Shanxi, China Wang and colleagues (2017), describing Zuoyunlong from the same locality and horizon, write that "The fossil quarry occurs in the lower part of the formation, and its estimated age is Cenomanian", after the 1984 Shanxi regional geological survey.

References

  1. Wang, R. F.; You, H. L.; Xu, S. C.; Wang, S. Z.; Yi, J.; Xie, L. J.; Jia, L.; Li, Y. X. (2013). A New Hadrosauroid Dinosaur from the Early Late Cretaceous of Shanxi Province, China. PLoS ONE 8(10): e77058. Public Library of Science (PLoS). doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0077058 wang2013a
  2. Wang, R. F.; You, H. L.; Wang, S. Z.; Xu, S. C.; Yi, J.; Xie, L. J.; Jia, L.; Xing, H. (2017). A second hadrosauroid dinosaur from the early Late Cretaceous of Zuoyun, Shanxi Province, China. Historical Biology 29(1): 17-24. Informa UK Limited. doi:10.1080/08912963.2015.1118688

    Dates the quarry, shared with Zuoyunlong, as an estimated Cenomanian, and lists the species as Cenomanian.

    wang2017c
  3. Jones, B. (2026). The Princeton Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs: Ornithischians. Princeton University Press.

    Source of the body length estimate.

    jones2026a