Gongxianosaurus

Gongxianosaurus is an early sauropod dinosaur that lived in what is now Sichuan, China, during the Early Jurassic Period. Recovered from the Ziliujing Formation, it is known from several partial skeletons that together preserve much of the body, including limbs, vertebrae, and cranial bones. Reaching approximately fourteen metres in total length and weighing up to ten tonnes, it was a hefty herbivore built for browsing on mid-level conifers and cycads. Unlike more derived sauropods of the Middle and Late Jurassic, Gongxianosaurus lacked deep skeletal pneumaticity, retaining solid, heavy vertebrae. Its columnar limbs and obligate four-legged stance place it at a pivotal evolutionary stage between the transitional sauropodomorphs and the gravisaurian giants that followed.

It is one of the most complete early sauropods found in China, lacking advanced vertebral hollows.

Where and when

Gongxianosaurus lived in the Early Jurassic, from 183 to 174 million years ago (Toarcian age). Its remains come from China, in the Ziliujing Formation.

The numbers

Length 14 m (estimates run from 13 to 15 m). Mass about 7.7 t. Hip height about 3.2 m. That is 8.2 human-lengths, or 1.25 of a double-decker bus. These are estimates from partial skeleton; fields marked estimated by the site are length, mass, first ma, last ma, hip height.

Compare Gongxianosaurus with a bus Place on the timeline