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Statistics[]
- Name: Wuerhosaurus homheni
- Name Meaning: Wuerho's Lizard
- Diet: Herbivore
- Length: 6-7 meters
- Time Period: Early/Middle Cretaceous
- Classification: Stegosauridae
- Place Found: China, Asia
- Describer: Dong, 1973
- Facts: Wuerhosaurus is a 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 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. 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.
