From which specific geological location were Xiaosaurus specimens recovered?
The Lufeng Formation in Yunnan Province, China
The fossils that provide our understanding of *Xiaosaurus* were unearthed specifically from the Lufeng Formation. This famous geological site is located within Yunnan Province, China. The Lufeng Formation is critically important because the fossils recovered from it date back reliably to the Lower Jurassic period. This specific locale places *Xiaosaurus* within the Lufeng fauna, meaning it shared its ancient environment with other contemporary reptiles and dinosaurs of that era. The context provided by this specific, ancient rock layer is key to understanding *Xiaosaurus* as a primitive representative of the Ornithischian clade, linking it firmly to the earliest stages of dinosaur evolution in Asia.
