Lufengosaurus Characteristics

Lufengosaurus measured 20 feet (6 metres) in length and weighed 500 kilograms. Like all prosauropods, Lufengosaurus had much longer hindlimbs than forelimbs and was probably bipedal some of the time. Their hind legs were very powerful and they were able to stand straight allowing the dinosaur to reach higher vegetation. It used its smaller fore limbs to put food into its mouth. Lufengosaurus had a long neck, a small head and a long heavy tail. Its teeth were bladelike with crowns that were wider at the bottom. The teeth were widely space.

Lufengosaurus had sharp claws with an especially large thumb claw. These features have been used to support claims that Lufengosaurus may have been at least partially omnivorous. Alternatively, the claws may have been used for defence or raking foliage from trees. The sharp teeth of Lufengosaurus are similar to those seen in iguanian lizards.

Lufengosaurus was a herbivore and ate huge amounts of plant material to sustain itself.

There are many fossils of this dinosaur from the Lufeng basin of Yunnan Province in southwestern China. It is one of several prosauropods known from the Early Jurassic Lufeng basin of Yunnan Probince, in southwestern China. Although there are compllete skeletons of this dinosaur, it is not fully described. The skull of Lufengosaurus was long and flat, and it had a small bump on its snout just above the nostril. Lufengosaurus was the first complete dinosaur skeleton mounted in China and a commemorative postage stamp was issued in 1958.

Lufengosaurus was named by Chung Chien Young in 1941.