Wuerhosaurus

*Wuerhosaurus homheni*

* Jurassic Park Institute Artwork
* Robert F Walters Artwork

***Wuerhosaurus*** is an extinct genus of stegosaurid dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous period of China. As such, it was one of the last genera of stegosaurians known to have existed, since most others lived in the late Jurassic, Wuerhosaurus was unique that way. Two species had been discovered, which were called ***W.homheni*** and ***W.ordosensis***.

## Description

*Wuerhosaurus homheni* was probably a broad bodied animal. Gregory S. Paul in 2010 estimated the length at 7 metres (23 feet) and the weight at four tonnes. Only a few scattered bones have been found, making a full restoration difficult. Its dorsal plates were at first thought to have been much rounder or flatter than other stegosaurids, but Maidment established this was an illusion caused by breakage: their actual form is unknown, one of the many different dinosaur mysteries we have yet to solve. W. homheni had a pelvis of which the front of the ilia strongly flared outwards indicating a very broad belly. The neural spines on the tail base were exceptionally tall. W. ordosensis was estimated by Paul to have been 5 metres (16.5 feet) long and weigh 1.2 tonnes. It too has a broad pelvis but the neural spines are shorter. The neck seems to have been relatively long, similar to its cousin, Dacentrurus. The thagomizers on the tail of Wuerhosaurus is rather similar to its larger North American cousin, Stegosaurus, and pays a strong resemblence to other Stegosaurs from the Late Jurassic to the Early Cretaceous.

## History

*Wuerhosaurus homheni* is the type species, described by Dong Zhiming in 1973 from the Tugulu Group in Xinjiang, western China. The generic name is derived from the city of Wuerho. The remains consisted of the holotype IVPP V.4006, a skull-less fragmentary skeleton, and the paratype IVPP V4007, three vertebrae from the tail of a second individual. A smaller species from the Ejinhoro Formation in the Ordos Basin in Inner Mongolia, W. ordosensis, was formalized by the same researcher in 1993. It is based on specimen IVPP V6877, a fragmentary skeleton lacking the skull. It was found in 1988. Susannah Maidment and colleagues proposed in 2008 that *Wuerhosaurus* should be considered a junior synonym of Stegosaurus, with type species W. homheni as Stegosaurus homheni and second species W. ordosensis regarded as dubious. This opinion has been contested, however, due to the fact that Stegosaurus would be considered to have a Chinese species.

## Paleobiology

*Wuerhosaurus* was lower to the ground than most other stegosaurids; scientists believe that this was an adaptation to let it feed on low-growing vegetation. Wuerhosaurus, like other stegosaurids, perhaps had a thagomizer on the end of its tail, like that of Stegosaurus which featured four bony spikes that would most likely have been used for self-defense. A single spike was found but was seen by Dong as being positioned on the shoulder. An important fact to remember is; this species is one of the last stegosaurians even existed. Despite world-wide extinctions, a few species triumph.

## JPInstitute.com Description

Wuerhosaurus was discovered to be the first member of the stegosaur family of dinosaurs that survived into the Cretaceous Period. For many years scientists thought that the plate-backed dinosaurs died out near the end of the Jurassic. These plant-eaters were very common in most parts of the Jurassic world and finding one that lived in the Cretaceous was an unexpected discovery. Like other member of its family, Wuerhosaurus was designed to eat plants that grew low to the ground. It had plates along its back and spikes on its tail. The spikes could be used as a defensive weapon.
Studies of Wuerhosaurus have found that it was remarkably similar to Stegosaurus Wuerhosaurus is known from two species.

## Dinosaur Field Guide Description

Wuerhosaurus ("lizard from Wuerho") is a rare type of stegosaur from the Cretaceous Period Well before the final extinction of the dinosaurs, stegosaurs became extinct and were replaced by ankylosaurs. The reason this occurred may be found by comparing their features. Although stegosaurs were well covered with plates on their backs and tails, their sides were less protected. Ankylosaurs were fully armored, and this may help explain why stegosaurs became extinct first. The presence of this stegosaur (Wuerhosaurus) in China-\_well into the Cretaceous- suggests that an isolated group survived in that area. There are two major features that separate Wuerhosaurus from a typical Stegosaurus. Wuerhosaurus has a shorter body and a wide, flaring hip bone. In stegosaurs in general, the hip bone is so large that it grows up, outward, and over the thighbone.

### Fun Facts

Stegosaurs were probably the slowest of all dinosaurs. The thigh bone is almost twice as long as the shin bone--the opposite of what you'd find in high-speed animals. In Wuerhosaurus, We See another dinosaur that gave up any chance at speed to put all of its effort into defense.

### Trivia

Stegosaurs, in general, are the rarest of all the dinosaur groups because not many species evolved.

## Appearance in other media

### *Jurassic Park*

* *Wuerhosaurus* appears in the game boy advance game Jurassic Park III: Park Builder, it is nr. 65 of the Herbivore Twos.
* *Wuerhosaurus* was supposed to be one of the dinosaurs set to appear in Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis, but was cut early in the development of the game.
* *Wuerhosaurus* appears in Jurassic World: The Game. It can only be obtained by joining a VIP Membership.
* *Wuerhosaurus* appeared in Jurassic World: Alive as a Rare Stegosaur. It is obtainable by darting 100 Wuerhosaurus, and can be fused with the Epic hybrid, Purutaurus to create the versatile Carnotarkus, which is a rather strange hybrid, a carnivorous Stegosaurid.
* Wuerhosaurus appeared in the video game Jurassic World Evolution 2.

## Links

https://web.archive.org/web/20080724001145/http://kids.yahoo.com/dinosaurs/429--Wuerhosaurus