Discovered the oldest armored dinosaur in Asia

Fossils in Yunnan, China reveal a never-before-seen armored dinosaur that lived 179 - 192 million years ago.

Simulate armored dinosaur Yuxisaurus kopchicki.

In a paper published in the journal eLife on March 15, a team led by Professor Paul Barrett at the Natural History Museum (NHM) in London named the new species Yuxisaurus kopchicki. Its fossils are quite complete, including skull fragments, vertebrae, parts of extremities, and numerous armor scales. It is the oldest and best preserved specimen of the Armored Dinosaur class (Thyreophoroidea) in Asia.

Thyreophoroidea is very recognizable, characterized by armor lined up along the body. The two most famous suborders of this class are Giap dragon (Ankylosaurus) and Sword dragon (Stegosaurus), in addition to a few lesser known groups.

"The armor of Yuxisaurus kopchicki immediately tells us it was a member of the class of Armored Dinosaurs, along with Ankylosaurus and Stegosaurus. However, the age of the fossil suggests it was an early member, outside of the two suborders. above," Paul wrote in the report. "My colleagues in China found this specimen in Yunnan, in a rock sheet dating from 179 to 192 million years ago. Evolutionary analysis shows that it shares many features with the common ancestor of two groups Ankylosaurus and Stegosaurus".

In the past, Thyreophoroidea fossils were mostly found in rocks dating from the Late Jurassic and Cretaceous periods, about 66 - 163 million years ago, in North America and Europe. The new discovery helps confirm that early armored dinosaurs lived in Asia at a much earlier time.

"We know very little about the early history of herbivorous dinosaurs in China, so regionally this is a really important find," Paul added.