newly discovered dinosaur species, Richeron WangiIt is central to the transition from early sauropods to sauropods. paper Published in a magazine Peer J.
Photograph of the skull (A) and interpretive line drawing (B) Richeron Wangi In right side view. Image credit: Wei Gao.
Richeron Wangi They roamed the Laurasian supercontinent during the early Jurassic period, about 193 million years ago.
This new species was a non-sauropod dinosaur in the clade. Masopoda.
“Non-sauropod sauropods were the dominant sauropods from the Norian period (227 to 208 million years ago) to the end of the Early Jurassic period (175 million years ago). “They were the main group of herbivores until they were replaced,” Dr. Qian said. Nan Zhang is a paleontologist at the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology and the Nanjing Institute of Science. Department of Geology and Paleontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and colleagues.
“Since Thecodontosaurus Since it was first established, more than 40 valid nonsauropod sauropods have been reported worldwide. ”
“Most of these genera were identified from Gondwana and recovered primarily from South America and southern Africa.”
“The Early Jurassic was a critical period for tracing the early radiation and diversification of sauropod dinosaurs,” the researchers added.
“Nearly all of the non-sauropods currently recovered in China have been reported from Yunnan Province, and the Early Jurassic Lufeng Formation is the most fossil-rich Mesozoic unit in the province.”
“Despite the well-preserved and abundant nature of these Lufeng materials, comparative studies and cladistic analyzes have underestimated the number of rare skulls in particular.”
Richeron WangiA partial skeleton of was recovered from the middle-upper part of the Shawan Formation of the Lufeng Formation near Jiutou Village, Yunnan Province, China.
The specimen includes a skull and mandible, as well as a nine-articulated cervical vertebrae.
“This new species differs from other terrestrial species in both cranial and cervical features,” the paleontologists said.
“It has some automorphisms of the nasal process, maxillary neurovascular foramen, and cervical neurovertebral column.”
The research team's phylogenetic analysis revealed the following: Richeron Wangi It is a sister species of Yunnanosaurus.
“Richeron Wangi “It has the largest skull among the abundant sauropod members of the Lufeng Formation,” the researchers said.
“Therefore, a reconsideration of phylogenetic analyzes using individual specimens of ascertainable ontogenetic stages as operational taxonomic units is undertaken to obtain generally better resolution.”
“Our study provides new insights to previous authors who addressed the anatomy of Lufeng species and represents a first step toward a reassessment of this famous dinosaur fauna.”
“Furthermore, Gondwanan early sauropod paleontological diversity appears to have decreased slightly across the Triassic-Jurassic boundary.”
“We therefore hypothesize that a non-sauropod genus of sauropods survived and rapidly radiated from Laurasia, particularly China.”
“Furthermore, the reconstruction of the ancestral region of Lufeng sauropods is temporally ambiguous.”
“However, the consequences of multiple rounds of dispersal and exchange may explain the continued diversification advantage of non-sauropods in the Lufeng Formation.”
“The limited paleobiogeographic information available from Richeron Wangi “This provides evidence that at least sauropods, or an early sauropod lineage closely related to sauropods, were present in southwestern China during the Early Jurassic.”
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Q. Chan others. 2024. The largest sauropod skull excavated from the Lufeng Formation of the Lower Jurassic period in China. Peer J 12: e18629;doi: 10.7717/peerj.18629
Source: www.sci.news
