Later about twenty more major specimens were discovered, including several complete or near-complete skeletons, skulls and juveniles,[3] making Shunosaurus one of the best anatomically known sauropods, with 94% of all skeletal elements identified.

A proposed second species, S. ziliujingensis, a name mentioned in the Zigong museum guide to indicate a smaller and older form, has never been formally described, and thus remains a nomen nudum.

It is known from nine cervicals, 15 dorsals, three sacrals, four caudals, both scapulae, the right coracoid and clavicle, the right forelimb lacking the hand, a pubis and ischium and the right hindlimb, found in the upper section of the Middle Jurassic Xiashaximiao Formation.

[6] The skulls found are mostly compressed or disarticulated and the interpretation of the head form has varied from broad, short and deep[7] to extremely narrow and pointed.

Published in 1989 was the discovery that the tail ended in a club,[9] equipped on its top with two successive spikes formed by cone-shaped osteoderms with a length of 5 centimetres (2.0 in).

It shared the local Middle Jurassic landscape with other sauropods, Datousaurus, Omeisaurus and Protognathosaurus, the possible ornithopod Xiaosaurus, and the early stegosaur Huayangosaurus, as well as the carnivorous theropod Gasosaurus.