Pronunciation: lie-YON-go-SOR-us
Meaning: Laiyang lizard
Author/s: Zhang et al. (2017)
Synonyms: None known
First Discovery: Shandong Province, China
Discovery Chart Position: #966
Laiyangosaurus youngi
(Young's Laiyang lizard)Etymology
Laiyangosaurus is derived from "Laiyang" (for the city where its fossils were found) and the Greek "sauros" (lizard).
The species epithet, youngi, honours Chung Chien Young (aka Yang Zhongjian), a pioneer of vertebrate paleontological research in Laiyang, and commemorates the 120th anniversary of his birth.
Discovery
The remains of Laiyangosaurus were discovered at "Locality 2" in the Jingangkou Formation (Wangshi Group), Laiyang City, Shandong Province, China, in 2010, alongside turtles and their eggs, gastropods, plant fragments and crocodile teeth. C.C. Young had discovered the first specimen of Tsintaosaurus at "Locality 1" less than 1 km away in 1950.
The holotype (IVPP V 23401) is a left maxilla and dentiary (the tooth-bearing bones of the upper and lower jaw). Referred material from the same quarry (representing at least five individuals) consists almost entirely of jaw bones, but according to Zhang (2019), some of them (IVPP V 23402.7, IVPP V 23404, IVPP V 23405.1, IVPP V 23403.1, IVPP V 23402.1) may belong to lambeosaurines and/or kritosaurinins instead.
Preparators
Yan Li, Long Xiang, Wei Gao, Hongjiao Zhou, Ruijie Wang, Xinjun Zhang, Rui Pan, Dan Xu, Wenhao Wang, and Huashuan Shou of the IVPP.
