biology

Hexinlusaurus

Hexinlusaurus is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Hexinlusaurus rather than just read about it. In short: Hexinlusaurus is a genus of basal ornithischian dinosaur from the Middle Jurassic (Bajocian stage) Lower Shaximiao Formation of what is now China. The type and only species is Hexinlusaurus multidens.

Key takeaways

Hexinlusaurus belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Hexinlusaurus to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Hexinlusaurus from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Hexinlusaurus is a genus of basal ornithischian dinosaur from the Middle Jurassic (Bajocian stage) Lower Shaximiao Formation of what is now China. The type and only species is Hexinlusaurus multidens.

Discovery The holotype (ZDM T6001, Zigong Dinosaur Museum, Dashanpu, People's Republic of China), consists of an almost complete, articulated skull and some postcranial material, collected from a terrestrial sandstone within the Lower Shaximiao Formation (?Bajocian) at the famous dinosaur-bearing quarries at Dashanpu. A paratype (ZDM T6002) consists of a partial skull and postcranial remains. Previously, it had been described as a species of Yandusaurus, Y. multidens (He and Cai, 1983), but was reclassified as a new taxon by Paul M. Barrett, Richard J. Butler and Fabien Knoll in 2005, who diagnosed this anatomically conservative species as follows: "A small ornithischian dinosaur distinguished from all other basal ornithischians by a single autapomorphy, the presence of a marked concavity that extends over the lateral surface of the postorbital." The etymology of the genus name honors Professor He Xin-Lu (from the Chengdu University of Technology) who originally named the specimen as Y. multidens + the Greek sauros (=lizard). Hexinlusaurus was a small, fleet-footed herbivore.

Before being officially named Hexinlusaurus, this genus was briefly known under the informal name "Proyandusaurus". This name originally appeared in an abstract attributed to Fabien Knoll, which was apparently published in 1999 without his consent. Other dinosaurs known from Dashanpu include the sauropod Shunosaurus, the theropod Gasosaurus, and the stegosaur Huayangosaurus.

References

Sources Barrett, P.M.; Butler, R. J.; Knoll, F. (2005). "Small-bodied ornithischian dinosaurs from the Middle Jurassic of Sichuan, China". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 25 (4): 823–834. doi:10.1671/0272-4634(2005)025[0823:sodftm]2.0.co;2. Butler, Richard J.; Upchurch, Paul; Norman, David B. (2008). "The phylogeny of the ornithischian dinosaurs". Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. 6 (1): 1–40. Bibcode:2008JSPal...6....1B. doi:10.1017/S1477201907002271. S2CID 86728076. Knoll, F. 1999. The family Fabrosauridae. In: J. I. Canudo and G. Cuenca-Bescós (Eds.): IV European Workshop on Vertebrate Palaeontology, Albarracin (Teruel, Spain), junio de 1999. Programme and Abstracts, Field guide. Servicio Publicaciones Universidad de Zaragoza, 54. He, X.-L.; Cai, K.-J. (1983). "A new species of Yandusaurus (hypsilophodont dinosaur) from the Middle Jurassic of Dashanpu, Zigong, Sichuan". Journal of Chengdu College of Geology (Supplement 1): 5–14.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Hexinlusaurus

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Hexinlusaurus claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Hexinlusaurus before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Hexinlusaurus ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Hexinlusaurus

In research: Hexinlusaurus appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Hexinlusaurus in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Hexinlusaurus is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Callovian dinosaurs, Dinosaur genera, Dinosaurs of China, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Hexinlusaurus outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Hexinlusaurus in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Hexinlusaurus means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Hexinlusaurus out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Hexinlusaurus in simple terms?

Why does Hexinlusaurus matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Hexinlusaurus?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Hexinlusaurus.