Zhuchengosaurus

Name Origin

Zhucheng Lizard

Family

Hadrosauridae

Classification

Diapsida, Ornithischia, Ornithopoda

Habitat (Discovery Location)

China

Period

Approximately 80 - 70 million years ago (Late Cretaceous)

Length

Approximately 16.6 meters

Weight

Approximately 10 tons

Diet

Herbivore (Plant-eater)

Description

Zhuchengosaurus was a hadrosaurid dinosaur whose fossils have been discovered in the Shandong region of China.
Although its formal genus classification has not been clearly established, it may have been one of the largest members of Hadrosauridae.
It lived in what is now China approximately 80 – 70 million years ago, during the Campanian stage of the Late Cretaceous.

Fossils Discovered in Shandong and Its Ecosystem

Multiple fossils attributed to different individuals of Zhuchengosaurus have been discovered in the Shandong region.
Numerous fossilized bones, including limb bones and vertebrae, have been found, confirming that it inhabited this region.

The same ecosystem was also home to Zhuchengtyrannus, a giant tyrannosaurid dinosaur closely related to Tyrannosaurus.
It has been suggested that Zhuchengtyrannus may have preyed on Zhuchengosaurus.

Furthermore, a scientific study published in 2011 regarded Zhuchengosaurus as belonging to the same genus as Shantungosaurus, another giant hadrosaurid.