Siluosaurus is a type of dinosaur that lived during the Early Cretaceous period, around 130 to 112 million years ago. The name Siluosaurus means “Silu lizard,” which refers to the area where it was discovered, known as the Silk Road.
This dinosaur was found in China, specifically in the Gansu region. Scientists only have a few teeth from Siluosaurus, which were discovered during a dinosaur expedition in 1992. One tooth was from the front of the mouth, while the other was from the cheek area.
The genus was named in 1997 by a scientist named Dong Zhiming. He believed that Siluosaurus was related to a group of dinosaurs called hypsilophodontids, which were small, plant-eating dinosaurs that walked on two legs.
Siluosaurus might have been about one to two meters long, similar to other small relatives from its family.
Although Siluosaurus is not widely studied and there is little information about it, its name pays tribute to an important figure in Chinese history, Zhang Qian, who explored the Silk Road centuries ago.
Because of the limited fossils available, some scientists are unsure about exactly how it fits into the dinosaur family tree. That is why it is sometimes considered an uncertain or unclear dinosaur.