Yunnanosaurus
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| iYunnanosaurus |
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Conservation status: Fossil
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| Yunnanosaurus huangi |
Yunnanosaurus is a genus of prosauropod dinosaur from the Early Jurassic period; a position in time that makes it one of the last prosauropods. It is closely related to Lufengosaurus. It was approximately 7 m (23 ft) long and 2 m (7 ft) high. It is known from twenty skeletons, including two skulls, recovered from the Lufeng Formation ofYunnan, China.
[edit] Dentition
Yunnanosaurus was unique among prosauropods in that its teeth were self-sharpening. There were more than sixty of these spoon shaped teeth in the jaws of Yunnanosaurus. Scientists consider these teeth to be advanced compared to other prosauropods. They share features with the sauropods'. However, scientists do not consider Yunannosaurus to be especially close to the sauropods in phylogeny because the remaining portions of the animals body are distinctly prosauropod in design. The similarity in dentition between Yunnanosaurus and sauropods might be an example of Convergent Evolution.
[edit] Classification
The type species, Y. huangi, was named by C. C. Young in 1940. Young also named a second species, Y. robustus, in 1951, but this has since been included in the type species. The confusion in classification arose due to that the earliest specimens were of juveniles while the "robustus" specimens represented fully grown adults.
[edit] References
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