Pronunciation: yoo-SOR-us
Meaning: Yue lizard
Author/s: Zheng et al. (2012)
Synonyms: None known
First Discovery: Zhejiang, China
Discovery Chart Position: #799
Yueosaurus tiantaiensis
Yueosaurus represents the southernmost basal ornithopod dinosaur known from Asia and the first one from China, and spent a time being referred to as a "changchunsaur" — one of a handful of primitive, Asian, beaked dinosaurs that seemed to form a group outside of Iguanodontia at the foot of Ornithopoda. Said group was officially named Jeholosauridae by Zheng et al. in 2012, because Jeholosaurus was the first named member and got dibs on naming rights, but there still isn't enough evidence to prove whether (or not) Yueosaurus belongs to it.
Etymology
Yueosaurus is derived from "Yue" (an ancient name for Zhejiang
Province) and the Greek "sauros" (lizard). The species epithet, tiantaiensis, means "from Tiantai" in Latin.
Discovery
The remains of Yueosaurus were discovered by Y-G Jiang in the Tiantai locality of the Liangtoutang Formation, Zhejiang Province, China, during construction of the G15w Expressway in 1998. The holotype (ZMNH M8620) is a partial but well preserved skeleton which includes cervical (neck), dorsal (back) and caudal (tail) vertebra, a shoulder blade, ribs, hip bones, a partial forelimb and a partial hindlimb.
