Agilisaurus

Agilisaurus
Temporal range: Middle Jurassic, 168–164 Ma
↓
Mounted skeleton at the Zigong Dinosaur Museum
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Dinosauria
Clade: †Ornithischia
Clade: †Neornithischia
Genus: †Agilisaurus
Peng, 1990
Species:
†A. louderbacki
Binomial name
†Agilisaurus louderbacki
Peng, 1990[1]

Agilisaurus (/ˌædʒɪlɪˈsɔːrəs/; 'agile lizard') is a genus of ornithischian dinosaur from the Middle Jurassic Period of what is now eastern Asia. It was about 3.5–4 ft (1.2-1.7 m) long, 2 ft (0.6 m) in height and 40 kg in weight.[2]

It has leaf-shaped teeth that were well-adapted to their abrasive, plant-based diets. Most surprisingly, the wavy enamel of the teeth of A. louderbacki and all other ornithopods, presumably to make it more resistant to wear, was previously thought to be exclusive to the hadrosaurs.[3] This is also the case for Changchunsaurus parvus.[3]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference Peng1990 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Paul, G.S. (2010). The Princeton Field Guide to Dinosaurs. Princeton University Press
  3. ^ a b Jun Chen, Aaron R. H. LeBlanc, Liyong Jin, Timothy Huang, Robert R. Reisz. Tooth development, histology, and enamel microstructure in Changchunsaurus parvus: Implications for dental evolution in ornithopod dinosaurs. PLOS ONE, 2018; 13 (11): e0205206 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0205206