Zuoyunlong
Named for Zuoyun County in Shanxi, China, where the fossils were discovered, combined with Chinese 'long' meaning 'dragon'.
Late Cretaceous stages
Zuoyunlong is an extinct genus of herbivorous ornithopod dinosaur belonging to the Hadrosauroidea that lived during the Late Cretaceous in the area of present China.
Diagnosis
- Very short postacetabular process about 50% as long as iliac central plate (unique autapomorphy)
- Relatively long, stick-shaped pubic peduncle of ilium
- Ischial peduncle of ilium formed by single large knob
- Modest lateral swelling along dorsal edge of ilium, approximately 90% length of central plate
- Apex of lateral swelling located dorsal and slightly caudal to caudal end of ischial peduncle
- Elongate, subtriangular distal boot of ischium that is ventrally directed with pointed extremity
Species
Zuoyunlong huangi Wang et al., 2017
Type species
Named for Chinese paleontologist Huang Weilong.
- Holotype
- SXMG V 00004 , Shanxi Museum of Geology
- Material
- Nearly complete right ilium and distal end of right ischium. Ilium 62cm long, missing most preacetabular process. Ischium distal boot elongate, subtriangular, ventrally directed.
- Horizon
- lower Zhumapu Formation, Cenomanian, Late Cretaceous , 100.5–93.9 million years ago
- Locality
- Shanxi, China Wang and colleagues (2017) 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
-
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
Erects the genus and dates the quarry as an estimated Cenomanian.
wang2017c -
Jones, B. (2026). The Princeton Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs: Ornithischians. Princeton University Press.
Source of the body length estimate.
jones2026a