Shuangmiaosaurus is a type of dinosaur that lived in what we now call China around 100 million years ago. This dinosaur was a herbivore, which means it ate plants.
The name “Shuangmiaosaurus” comes from a village called Shuangmiao, where its fossils were found. The species is named “Shuangmiaosaurus gilmorei” to honor a famous paleontologist named Charles Whitney Gilmore.
The first fossils discovered were important pieces of the upper and lower jaws. These were found in a place called the Sunjiawan Formation, which was initially thought to be from a later period but now is believed to be older.
Shuangmiaosaurus was quite large for a dinosaur. One expert estimated it could grow up to 7.5 meters long and weigh about 2.5 tonnes.
When it was first discovered, scientists thought it was closely related to another group of dinosaurs called Hadrosauroidea. However, some researchers later suggested that it is actually more closely related to earlier dinosaurs called Iguanodontia, which are different from the Hadrosauridae family.
In summary, Shuangmiaosaurus was a unique dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous period, and its discovery helps us learn more about dinosaur history.