Chungkingosaurus

Chungkingosaurus, meaning "Chongqing Lizard", is a herbivorous dinosaur from the Upper Jurassic Shaximiao Formation in what is now China. It is a member of the Stegosauria.

Chungkingosaurus Temporal range: Late Jurassic, 160 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
Mounted skeleton
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Clade:	Dinosauria
Order:	†Ornithischia
Clade:	†Thyreophora
Suborder:	†Stegosauria
Family:	†Huayangosauridae
Genus:	†Chungkingosaurus Dong et al., 1983
Species:	†C. jiangbeiensis
Binomial name
Chungkingosaurus jiangbeiensis Dong et al., 1983

It was one of the smallest stegosaurs with a length of less than four metres, but it was apparently an adult, judging by the ossification of the sacrum.

At first, all of the stegosaurs came from the Lower Cretaceous, but this one is earlier. It seems obvious that the plates were used as defence, but temperature regulation and mate attraction have been proposed.