In 1981, Dong Zhiming found a nearly complete skeleton during a stratigraphic exploration funded by the oil industry

In 1984 the fossil was finally unearthered

In 1987, before being formally described, it was called Jiangjunmiaosaurus in the press. This is a nomen nudum (a name with inadequate description, thus its invalid).

In 1993/1994, Zhao Xijin and Philip John Currie named and described the type species Monolophosaurus jiangi