Page 66 - DINOSOUR ATLAS

Lufeng Basin

in The early jurassic, about 200 million years ago, a shallow inland sea
covered much of southern China. Rivers flowed into it, and on their
floodplains lived prosauropods, a group of large plant-eaters that Chuxiong Lufeng Kunming
Basin
came before the sauropods. It was the discovery of one of these,
Lufengosaurus, that alerted the world’s paleontologists to the Y U N N A N Dian Chi
importance of the Lufeng Basin rocks, where red-colored
sandstones, mudstones, and shales had built up to a depth of
3,280 ft (1,000 m). About 12 Early Jurassic dinosaur species
have been found here, which has led to the region becoming Fuxian Hu
known as China’s “dinosaur homeland.” Yuxi

u SIte locAtIon
teetH were The Lufeng Basin is in Yunnan Province, southwest China.
serrated and
backward Dinosaur fossils were first found here in the late 1930s.
curving

, lUkoUSAUrUS
This small reptile is only
known from fragments of skull,
found many years ago in the Early
Jurassic rocks of the Lufeng Basin.
did you know? Tiny brow horns grew on top of its head,
and its saw-edged teeth indicate that it
had a diet of meat.
. Some paleontologists believe
Lukousaurus was not a
dinosaur at all. They say its
skull is more like that of an
early crocodile.
.

, lUfengoSAUrUS Skeleton big tAil to
counterbalance
Several Lufengosaurus skeletons have been its body
recovered, enabling it to be rebuilt with
accuracy—in fact, it was China’s first long,
mounted dinosaur. This mobile
specimen has been neck
mounted in a standing
pose, as if stretching
up to reach leaves , lUfengoSAUrUS
10–13 ft (3–4 m)
above the ground. This dinosaur was a prosauropod.
It had small, flat teeth with serrated
edges, which were well designed for
lArge sHort shredding vegetation. It’s thought
clAws on front Lufengosaurus walked on all fours,
each thumb legs and could stand on its hind legs
strong Hind
legs supported to reach plants growing high up.
it standing up
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