Yinlong downsi is the only known species of the extinct Yinlong genus of chaoyangsaurid ornithischian dinosaur, which lived at the end of the Jurassic period, approximately 158 million years ago, in the Oxfordian, in what is now Asia.
Yinlong downsi was a modest-sized dinosaur compared to some of its later ceratopsian relatives. It measured around 1.2 meters in length and weighed approximately 20 kilograms. It had a relatively small head compared to larger ceratopsians that evolved later, such as Triceratops.
This dinosaur is characterized by its skull with a series of small horns that decorated the region of its eyebrows. It also had a protuberance on the back of its head, although this structure was not as elaborate as the crests that would develop in later ceratopsians. Its mouth was equipped with teeth adapted to crushing plants, indicating that it fed mainly on vegetation.
Yinlong downsi lived in what is now China, at a time when dinosaurs began to diversify and evolve into a wide variety of forms. Although it was an early ceratopsian, its discovery has provided valuable information about the ancestors of the more well-known and ornate ceratopsians, such as Triceratops.
Approximate measurements of the Yinlong:
- Scale 1:20
- Length 65mm
- Height 26mm
- Snout-tail length 70 mm
- Scale 1:12
- Length 109mm
- Height 43mm
- Snout-tail length 123 mm
