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Glossary YAL - YUN

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(pronounced YALE-oh-SAWR-us) Yaleosaurus (named by von Huene in 1932, in honor of the Yale Peabody Museum) is another name for the dinosaur Anchisaurus (meaning: "near lizard"). It was a prosauropod from the early Jurassic Period, about 200 to 188 million years ago. This plant-eater was 6.5 to 8 feet (2 to 2.5 m) long and was a quadruped that could also walk on two legs. It had serrated, leaf-shaped teeth, a small head, a long neck, a long body, long, thin feet, and a long tail. Almost complete fossils have been found in Connecticut and Massachusetts, USA. Yaleosaurus was named by paleontologist O. Marsh in 1885.

(pronounced YEN-doo-SAWR-us) Yandusaurus (meaning: Yandu, the "Salt Capital" of Sichuan Province, China) was a plant-eating dinosaur from the mid-Jurassic Period, about 175-163 million years ago. This primitive hypsilophodontid ornithischian was bipedal and lightly built. It was about 5 ft (1.5 m) long. Yandusaurus was named by Dong, Chang, Li, and Zhou in 1978. The type species is Y. hongheensis. Fossils were found in China.

(pronounced YAHNG-CHWAHN-oh-SAWR-us) Yangchuanosaurus was a meat-eating dinosaur, a theropod with small arms and big jaws. It was similar to Allosaurus. It dates from the late Jurassic perid, about 163 to 145 million years ago.

Yaverlandia (named for Yaverland Point where it was found) was a thick-skulled plant-eating dinosaur, an early pachycephalosaur. Yaverlandia was about 3 feet (1 m) long. It lived during the early Cretaceous period, roughly 126-121 million years ago. Only a partial skull has been found, on Yaverland Point, Isle of Wight, England. The type species is Y. bitholus; bilothus means "two domes." Yaverlandia was named by paleontologist Peter Galton in 1971.


The Yucatán peninsula is located in eastern Mexico, jutting into the Gulf of Mexico. A huge asteroid or comet probably hit the Earth 65 million years ago off the Yucatán Peninsula, causing the catastrophic K-T extinction.

(pronounced YOU-NAN-oh-SAWR-us) Yunnanosaurus (meaning: Yunnan [Province] lizard) was a large plant-eating dinosaur from the early mid-Jurassic Period, about 208-194 million years ago. This primitive sauropodomorph had a long neck, long tail, and a small, narrow head with a short snout. Its 60+ teeth were similar to more advanced sauropods. It was about 23 ft (7 m) long. Yunnanosaurus was named by Young Chung Chien in 1942. The type species is Y. huangi. About 20 fossil skeletons were found in China. It is similar to Lufengosaurus.