Yimenosaurus was a type of dinosaur that lived a long time ago during the Early Jurassic period, around 190 million years ago. This dinosaur was found in what is now China.
The name Yimenosaurus means “Yiman reptile.” It was first named by scientists Ziqi Bai, Jie Yang, and Guohui Wang in 1990. The species name, Yimenosaurus youngi, honors a famous Chinese paleontologist named Yang Zhongjian, also known as C.C. Young, who was a pioneer in studying dinosaurs in China.
Yimenosaurus was a relatively large dinosaur, reaching about 9 meters or 30 feet in length, and weighed around 2 tonnes. For its time, it was quite impressive!
Some of the main bones found from Yimenosaurus include a nearly complete skull, part of its backbone, hip bones, and a strong thigh bone called a femur. Despite being from a long time ago, scientists have been able to piece together a good amount of information about this dinosaur from the bones discovered.
The fossils were found in an area called the Fengjiahe Formation, which has helped researchers understand more about the creatures that lived during that era. Yimenosaurus is an exciting part of the story of dinosaurs, showing how diverse and fascinating these ancient reptiles were!