
Yuxisaurus kopchicki was an armored dinosaur that lived nearly 200 million years ago in today’s China
An article published in the journal “eLife” reports the identification of a new species of armored dinosaurs that lived between 192 and 174 million years ago, at the beginning of the Jurassic period, in today’s China. A team of researchers named it Yuxisaurus kopchicki and assigned it to the group of thyreophorans (Thyreophora), which includes the many armored dinosaurs such as the famous stegosaurs and ankylosaurs. The new species is the first of this group to be described thanks to early Jurassic fossils discovered in Asia. This confirms this group’s quick spread and diversification.