Yimenosaurus

Yimenosaurus, whose name translates to "Yimen reptile," is a genus of plateosaurid sauropodomorph dinosaur from the Early Jurassic of China. It was formally described in 1990 by Ziqi Bai, Jie Yang, and Guohui Wang, who designated a single species: Yimenosaurus youngi. The species name honors Yang Zhongjian—often referred to in English as C.C. Young—the pioneering Chinese paleontologist regarded as the father of his country's dinosaur research. The genus is known from two specimens that together offer a fairly complete picture of its anatomy. The holotype, cataloged as YXV 8701, consists of a nearly complete skull and lower jaw (missing only the front tip of the jaw and a few small bones around the eye socket), along with partial neck and back vertebrae, most of the sacrum, an ilium, both ischia, a complete thighbone, and some damaged ribs. The paratype, YXV 8702, preserves a fragmentary skull and a well-preserved postcranial skeleton, including many neck and back vertebrae, three sacral vertebrae, a few tail vertebrae, a shoulder blade fused with the coracoid, a full pelvis, and nearly both hindlimbs. All material was collected from the Fengjiahe Formation. In 2010, paleontologist Gregory S. Paul estimated the animal's length at 9 meters (30 feet) and its weight at 2 tonnes (2.2 short tons).