Juvenile Jeholosaurus Dinosaur Fossil from The Early Cretaceous

Name: Ornithopoda: Jeholosaurus shangyuanensis

Animalia; Vertebrata; Tetrapoda; Sauropsida; Archosauromorpha; Ornithodira; Dinosauria Ornithischia

Age: Lower Cretaceous, (~125 m.y.a.)

Size (25.4 mm = 1 inch): 130 mm long (tip of skull to tip of tail along backbone). Matrix: 93 mm by 112 mm

Location: Yixian Formation, Lujiatan, Shangyuan, Beipiao, Liaoning Province of China

Code: BF071

Price: $2250.00

Description: Jeholosaurus was a small Ornithopod dinosaur presumably related to the Hypsilophodonts, and as such was an herbivore. The genus derives its name from Jehol, an old name for western Liaoning and northern Hebei Provinces, with the specific name coming from Shangyuan, the type locality for the taxon. An adult was some 80 centimeters in length, showing this one to be a juvenile, most likely a hatchling. It is preserved in ventral aspect, allowing you to see many of the teeth in the upper jaw, teeth that were specialized for its plant diet. While there are repairs to the matrix, and some restoration to the left pes, this is an exceptional example of this rarely seen dinosaur from the early Cretaceous.