Datousaurus, meaning either "Chieftain lizard" or "Big-head Lizard" (from the Malay datou "chieftain" or Chinese da tou "Big Head" and Greek

Ancient Greek

Ancient Greek is the stage of the Greek language in the periods spanning the times c. 9th–6th centuries BC, , c. 5th–4th centuries BC , and the c. 3rd century BC – 6th century AD of ancient Greece and the ancient world; being predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek...

 sauros/σαυρος "lizard") was a 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 Middle 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...

. It was a sauropod collected from the Lower Shaximiao Formation in Dashanpu, Zigong

Zigong

Zigong , ancient name Ziliujing and Gongjing, is a prefecture-level city and the third largest city in Sichuan Province, in southwest China.-Geography:...

 Sichuan province, 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 shared the local Middle Jurassic landscape with other sauropods Shunosaurus

Shunosaurus

Shunosaurus, meaning "Shu Lizard", is a genus of sauropod dinosaur from Middle Jurassic beds in Sichuan Province in China, 170 million years ago...

, 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...

 and Protognathosaurus

Protognathosaurus

Protognathosaurus is a genus of dinosaur from the Middle Jurassic. It was a sauropod found in what is present-day China. The type species, P. oxyodon, was originally described by Zhang , and was renamed by George Olshevsky in 1991...

, the ornithopod

Ornithopod

Ornithopods or members of the clade Ornithopoda are a group of ornithischian dinosaurs that started out as small, bipedal running grazers, and grew in size and numbers until they became one of the most successful groups of herbivores in the Cretaceous world, and dominated the North American...

 Xiaosaurus

Xiaosaurus

Xiaosaurus , is a genus of small herbivorous dinosaur from the middle Jurassic, approximately 169 to 163 mya. Xiaosaurus lived in what is now the Sichuan Basin of China....

 and the early stegosaur

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....

 Huayangosaurus

Huayangosaurus

Huayangosaurus is a genus of stegosaurian dinosaur from the Middle Jurassic of China. The name derives from "Huayang", an alternate name for Sichuan , and "saurus", meaning "lizard"...

 as well as the carnivorous Gasosaurus

Gasosaurus

Gasosaurus was a tetanuran dinosaur discovered in Dashanpu, China. The scientific name, meaning "Gas Lizard", honours the gasoline company that found the Dashanpu fossil quarry in Sichuan Province, now named as the Lower Shaximiao Formation. It had strong legs but short arms, and like most...

.

Discovery and species

Datousaurus was named by Dong Zhiming

Dong Zhiming

Dong Zhiming , from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology in Beijing, is one of China's leading paleontologists. He began working at the IVPP in 1962, learning from Yang Zhongjian who was director at the time...

 and Tang in 1984. To date, only two partial skeletons have been discovered. Neither had an articulated skull, although one skull has been discovered that has been attributed to the genus.

D. bashanensis is the only established species.

Paleobiology

Datousaurus was about 15 metres long and herbivorous. It had a deep large skull for a sauropod. The rarity of its fossils suggest that it may not have been as social as other sauropods, which are often preserved in large numbers in a single deposit.

Datousaurus and Shunosaurus

Datousaurus and Shunosaurus

Shunosaurus

Shunosaurus, meaning "Shu Lizard", is a genus of sauropod dinosaur from Middle Jurassic beds in Sichuan Province in China, 170 million years ago...

 were both closely related animals with similar anatomies. However, Datousauruss elongated vertabrae gave it a higher reach and its teeth were more spoon shaped. This may be a sign that these contemporaries fed on different plants and/or at different heights in the trees. This strategy may have reduced competition between the two genera. A similar pattern of height difference possibly associated with feeding behaviors is found in the diplodocid

Diplodocid

Diplodocids, or members of the family Diplodocidae , are a group of sauropod dinosaurs. The family includes some of the longest creatures ever to walk the earth, including Diplodocus and Supersaurus, which may have reached lengths of up to .-Description:While still massive, when compared to the...

s.

External links

• Datousaurus in The Dinosaur Encyclopaedia at Dino Russ' Lair