Chungkingosaurus, meaning "Chongqing Lizard", is a genus

Genus

In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

 of dinosaur

Dinosaur

Dinosaurs are a diverse group of animals of the clade and superorder Dinosauria. They were the dominant terrestrial vertebrates for over 160 million years, from the late Triassic period until the end of the Cretaceous , when the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event led to the extinction of...

 from the Late Jurassic

Jurassic

The Jurassic is a geologic period and system that extends from about Mya to  Mya, that is, from the end of the Triassic to the beginning of the Cretaceous. The Jurassic constitutes the middle period of the Mesozoic era, also known as the age of reptiles. The start of the period is marked by...

-age Upper Shaximiao Formation in what is now China

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

. It is classified as a stegosaurid

Stegosauria

Known colloquially as stegosaurs, the Stegosauria are a group of herbivorous dinosaurs of the Jurassic and Early Cretaceous Periods, being found mostly in the Northern Hemisphere, predominantly in what is now North America and China....

.

Discovery and species

The type species

Type species

In biological nomenclature, a type species is both a concept and a practical system which is used in the classification and nomenclature of animals and plants. The value of a "type species" lies in the fact that it makes clear what is meant by a particular genus name. A type species is the species...

, Chungkingosaurus jiangbeiensis, was found near Chongqing

Chongqing

Chongqing is a major city in Southwest China and one of the five national central cities of China. Administratively, it is one of the PRC's four direct-controlled municipalities , and the only such municipality in inland China.The municipality was created on 14 March 1997, succeeding the...

, China. in 1977 and described by Dong Zhiming, Zhou Shiwu, and Chang Yihong in 1983. There were many stegosaurs found in China in 1977 (the year Chungkingosaurus was found), but Chungkingosaurus was the smallest of these.

Paleobiology

One of the smallest of the family at 3–4 metres long (10–13 ft), Chungkingosaurus had at least five spikes on its thagomizer

Thagomizer

Thagomizer is an informal name for the distinctive arrangement of four to ten spikes on the tails of stegosaurid dinosaurs. These spikes are believed to have been a defensive measure against predators.-Paleobiology:...

. It had a rather high and narrow skull and large, thick bony plates. Like all stegosaurs, it was a herbivore

Herbivore

Herbivores are organisms that are anatomically and physiologically adapted to eat plant-based foods. Herbivory is a form of consumption in which an organism principally eats autotrophs such as plants, algae and photosynthesizing bacteria. More generally, organisms that feed on autotrophs in...

. Chungkingosaurus had spiny plates on its back, which were arranged in pairs, but the total number is unknown. A specimen in the Chongqing Municipal museum is represented as having 14 pairs of plates. This specimen also had two pairs of tail spikes.

Chungkingosaurus is thought to have coexisted with large plant-eaters and stegosaurids such as Chialingosaurus

Chialingosaurus

Chialingosaurus is a genus of stegosaur similar to Kentrosaurus from the Upper Shaximiao Formation, Late Jurassic beds in Sichuan Province in China. Its age makes it one of the oldest species of stegosaurs, living about 160 million years ago...

, Tuojiangosaurus

Tuojiangosaurus

Tuojiangosaurus is a genus of stegosaurid dinosaur from the Late Jurassic Period, recovered from the Upper Shaximiao Formation of what is now Sichuan Province in China. Physically similar to the North American Stegosaurus, Tuojiangosaurus is the best understood of the Chinese stegosaurids...

, Mamenchisaurus

Mamenchisaurus

Mamenchisaurus was a plant-eating four-legged dinosaur, known for its remarkably long neck which made up half its total length. It is known from numerous species which ranged in time from 160 to 145 million years ago, from the Oxfordian to Tithonian ages of the late Jurassic Period of...

, and Omeisaurus

Omeisaurus

Omeisaurus is a genus of sauropod dinosaur from the Middle Jurassic Period of what is now China. Its name comes from Mount Emei, where it was discovered in the lower Shaximiao Formation of Sichuan Province.Like other sauropods, Omeisaurus was herbivorous and large...

. It may have also faced being a meal of predators such as the theropods Yangchuanosaurus

Yangchuanosaurus

Yangchuanosaurus was a theropod dinosaur that lived in China during the late Oxfordian stage of the Late Jurassic, and was similar in size and appearance to its North American contemporary, Allosaurus...

and Szechuanosaurus

Szechuanosaurus

Szechuanosaurus is a dubious genus of theropod dinosaur from the Late Jurassic. This dinosaur lived in the Asia in the Oxfordian and early Kimmeridgian . It is based on four undiagnostic teeth from the Shangshaximiao Formation.-Discovery and species:Three species have been assigned to this genus...

.

External links

• Chungkingosaurus in the Dinosaur Encyclopaedia
• Chungkingosaurus at Thescelosaurus.com