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Bishanopliosaurus

Say it: bee-SHAN-oh-PLEE-oh-SORE-us

Name means: “Bishan lizard”5

Ate: MeatPlesiosaursEarly Jurassic to Late JurassicNot technically a dinosaur

Bishanopliosaurus was a short-necked plesiosaur that lived in a warm, freshwater lake in China. It was a fierce hunter, using its long jaws and sharp teeth to catch fish and other prey. Even though it lived in water, it was not a dinosaur but a marine reptile.5 1

Fun fact: this sea reptile swam while dinosaurs walked on land. Everyone calls them dinos, but they were a different branch of reptiles.

Lived

184 to 155 million years ago5

Early Jurassic to Late Jurassic

Fossils found in

Bishan County, Chongqing Municipality, China1

Food

Meat5

Length

4 m2

estimate for the type specimen, which was a young individual

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

How big was it?

as long as 2 bicycles in a rowas long as 22 bananas end to end

How big was Bishanopliosaurus compared to YOU?

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cool stuff

Fun facts

Bishanopliosaurus is one of the most complete plesiosaur fossils ever found in Asia from the Jurassic period.1

It had a short neck and a long body, with at least 17 neck bones, 19 back bones, 3 hip bones, and 26 tail bones.2

Its sacral ribs (ribs near the hips) were split into two branches, a unique feature that helps identify it.2

The type specimen was a young individual, so adults might have been larger than 4 metres long.1

Bishanopliosaurus lived in a subtropical freshwater lake, which is unusual because most plesiosaurs lived in the sea.1

Its name means 'Bishan lizard' after the county in China where it was found.5

Scientists are not sure exactly how old the rocks are that contained Bishanopliosaurus, so it could be from the Early or Middle Jurassic.1

AI-made picture of Bishanopliosaurus — An AI-made picture of how Bishanopliosaurus might have looked, made by a computer from what scientists know. It is a guess: the real animal may have looked different, and nobody knows its true colours.

you asked

Most asked questions about Bishanopliosaurus

?How big was Bishanopliosaurus?

About 4 metres (13 feet) long. That is roughly the length of a small car.3 4

?What did Bishanopliosaurus eat?

It was a carnivore, meaning it ate meat. It used its long jaws and sharp teeth to catch fish and other prey in the lake.5

?Is Bishanopliosaurus a dinosaur?

No, it is not a dinosaur. It is a plesiosaur, a type of marine reptile that lived in water.3 4

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For dino experts

Scientific name: Bishanopliosaurus
Named by: Dong 19805
Group: Plesiosaurs
Family / clade: Rhomaleosauridae5
Classification: Plesiosauria > Sauropterygia5
Age of the rocks: 184 to 155 million years (Toarcian / Oxfordian)5
Rock formations: Shaximiao, Ziliujing5
Countries: China5
Fossil records: 4 in the Paleobiology Database5
Discovery: Chinese paleontologist Dong Zhiming named Bishanopliosaurus in 1980 based on a partial skeleton found in Bishan County, Chongqing.5 1
Still debated: Scientists are not sure exactly how Bishanopliosaurus is related to other plesiosaurs because the skull was not found.1

Where the facts come from

vertpala.ac.cn (vertpala.ac.cn)
PBDB Taxon (paleobiodb.org)
Bishanopliosaurus (Wikipedia) (Wikipedia)
Bishanopliosaurus – Plesiosaur Directory (plesiosauria.com)
Bishanopliosaurus in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.

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