Wuerhosaurus
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Extinct (fossil)
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Wuerhosaurus was a Chinese stegosaur from Early Cretaceous times. It was about 7 metres long.
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[edit] Discovery and species
Wuerhosaurus homheni is the type species, described by Dong Zhiming in 1973 from the Tugulu Group in Xinjiang Province in Western China. A smaller species from the Ejinhoro Formation in the Ordos Basin in Inner Mongolia, W. ordosensis, was formalized by the same researcher in 1993.
Wuerhosaurus species
- W. homheni (type)
- W. ordosensis
[edit] Paleobiology
It was lower to the ground than most other stegosaurs; scientists believe that this was an adaptation to let it feed on low-growing vegetation. Unlike Stegosaurus, Wuerhosaurus had shorter, rounded plates, whose purpose is debated. Wuerhosaurus, like other stegosaurs, had a thagomizer, which featured four bony spikes that would most likely have been used for self-defense.
[edit] References
- Dong Zhiming (1992). Dinosaurian Faunas of China. China Ocean Press, Beijing. ISBN 3-540-52084-8.
[edit] External links
- http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/dinosaurs/facts/Wuerhosaurus/
- http://www.users.qwest.net/~jstweet1/stegosauria.htm
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