Pronunciation: yee-MUHN-o-SOR-us
Meaning: Yimen lizard
Author/s: Bai, Yang and Wang (1990)
Synonyms: None known
First Discovery: Yimen, China
Discovery Chart Position: #353
Yimenosaurus youngi
Yimenosaurus is an Early Jurassic-aged sauropodomorph, specifically a plateosaurid sauropodomorph that Chinese palaeontologists described as being similar to Plateosaurus and Lufengosaurus but with some unique features of its own.
Its skull is twice as long as it is high and sports a rounded snout, six pairs of "windows", including large orbits (eye sockets) and huge nares (nostrils), and elongated and slender teeth that are somewhat spoon-shaped on the tongue side. Its hips are robust, as are its hind limbs, with massive ankles and long metatarsals but short and thick toes. All in all, the body of Yimenosaurus is chunky and heavyset and not dissimilar to the advanced sauropodomorphs known as sauropods. Likewise, its head seems undersized and delicately built by comparison.
Apart from the arms, most of the skeleton is known thanks to a pair of specimens. But both were badly weathered and damaged during excavation and preparation, so they had to be painstakingly glued back together before study could begin. Therefore, Yimenosaurus received only a preliminary description, courtesy of Bai, Yang and Wang, with the promise of a more in-depth report at a later date. Sadly, that was way back in 1990, and no one has so much as poked it with a stick since.
Its skull is twice as long as it is high and sports a rounded snout, six pairs of "windows", including large orbits (eye sockets) and huge nares (nostrils), and elongated and slender teeth that are somewhat spoon-shaped on the tongue side. Its hips are robust, as are its hind limbs, with massive ankles and long metatarsals but short and thick toes. All in all, the body of Yimenosaurus is chunky and heavyset and not dissimilar to the advanced sauropodomorphs known as sauropods. Likewise, its head seems undersized and delicately built by comparison.
Apart from the arms, most of the skeleton is known thanks to a pair of specimens. But both were badly weathered and damaged during excavation and preparation, so they had to be painstakingly glued back together before study could begin. Therefore, Yimenosaurus received only a preliminary description, courtesy of Bai, Yang and Wang, with the promise of a more in-depth report at a later date. Sadly, that was way back in 1990, and no one has so much as poked it with a stick since.
(Young's Yimen Lizard)Etymology
Yimenosaurus is derived from "Yimen" (for Yimen County) and the Greek "sauros" (lizard).
The species epithet, youngi, is derived from the romanised surname of Professor Yang Zhongjian (Chung Chien Young), the founder of vertebrate palaeontology in China and a provider of outstanding contributions to prosauropod research in Yunnan Province. In Chinese, the family name (or surname) is listed first.
Discovery
The first remains of Yimenosaurus were discovered in the Fengjiahe Formation at Jiaojiadian in Yimen County, Yunnan Province, China, by Mr. Xingyong Zhang in August of 1987. The holotype (YXV8701) is a damaged skeleton with an incomplete skull and lower jaws.
The paratype (YXV8702) is a somewhat larger specimen which includes lots of bits that are missing from the holotype. Both specimens are housed at the Yuxi Regional Administrative Academy of Yunnan.
