Xiaosaurus facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Xiaosaurus |
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| Scientific classification | |
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Xiaosaurus
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| Species: |
dashanpensis
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Xiaosaurus (say "SHEE-ow-SAWR-us") means "dawn lizard." This name was given because it lived a very long time ago, during the middle Jurassic Period. Xiaosaurus was a small plant-eating dinosaur. It lived about 169 to 163.5 million years ago. This dinosaur roamed the land that is now the Sichuan Basin in China.
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Discovery and Naming
Scientists found two Xiaosaurus fossils in 1979 and 1980. They were digging near a place called Dashanpu in Sichuan, China. In 1983, two paleontologists, Dong Zhiming and Tang Zilu, officially named these fossils. They called the dinosaur Xiaosaurus dashanpensis.
The first fossil found is called the holotype. It's like the main example of the species. This one, named IVPP V6730A, was a partial skeleton. It included a piece of its jaw with one tooth, some neck and tail bones, an arm bone (humerus), and parts of its leg bones.
The second fossil is called the paratype. It's another important example. This one, IVPP V6730B, also had parts of a skeleton. It included a leg bone, some back and hip bones, a toe bone, a rib, and two teeth. These fossils helped scientists learn about this ancient creature.
What Xiaosaurus Looked Like
Xiaosaurus was a small dinosaur. It walked on two legs, just like a bird or a human. Scientists think it was about one meter (about 3 feet) long. Its thigh bone was about 11 centimeters (about 4 inches) long.
How Scientists Classify Xiaosaurus
The fossils of Xiaosaurus are not complete. This makes it a bit tricky for scientists to figure out exactly where it fits in the dinosaur family tree.
At first, the scientists who named it thought it might be related to two groups: the Fabrosauridae and the Hypsilophodontidae. They even thought it might be a link between dinosaurs like Lesothosaurus and Hypsilophodon.
For a while, some scientists weren't sure if Xiaosaurus was a unique dinosaur. They called it a nomen dubium, which means "doubtful name." This is because its fossils were so broken. However, in 2005, a group of scientists led by Paul Barrett looked at it again. They decided that Xiaosaurus was likely a real and unique dinosaur. They found one special feature that no other dinosaur had: its humerus (arm bone) was perfectly straight when viewed from the front. This unique trait helped confirm its place as its own species.
See also
In Spanish: Xiaosaurus dashanpensis para niños
