Chinese paleontologists have excavated relatively complete skulls and vertebrae that belonged to the previously unknown Metriacansosaurus theropod dinosaurs from the mid-Jurassic period.
Yuanmouraptor jinshajiangensis roamed our planet about 170 million years ago (Central Jurassic).
This dinosaur was a medium-sized member Metriaacansosauridaceaeclade, a carnivorous dinosaur who lived in the masses of the ancient continent between the mid-Jurassic and mid-Cretaceous periods.
“The Metriacansosaurid family is a family of carnivorous dinosaurs and represents the basal branch clades within allosauroidosis,” says Dr. Yi Zou, a paleontologist at the Academy of Sciences at the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Spine and Paleontology at the Academy of Sciences.
“Some studies argue that Metricanthosaurus has a closer relationship with Carcharodontosaurus, making the Metricanthosaurus a more derived group of allosauroidosis.”
“Regardless of where the Metricantosauraceae are within the Allosaurian family, members of this clade came from the late period, mainly from the central Jurassic region of western China, such as Sichuan, Chili peppers, Xinjiang and Yunnan.”
“Apart from species found in China, the Noashihara of Metriantosauld was reported during the late Jurassic in England, the late Jurassic in Kyrgyzstan, the late Jurassic in Thailand and the late Cretaceous period.”
“Recently, scientists have reported the possible distribution of this clade in the Tibetan Plateau.”
Fossilized ruins Yuanmouraptor jinshajiangensis were collected from the Zhanghe Formation in Yunnan Province, China.
“The specimen contains a relatively complete skull and the first 11 vertebrae, including 10 cervical vertebrae and the front dorsal vertebrae,” the researchers said.
“The preserved skull is measured at an anterior and posterior length of 53.9 cm, and the skull reconstruction is 60.1 cm in anterior and posterior length.”
Team phylogenetic analysis shows that the new species is located at the basal branching location within the Metriancanthaurid family.
“Yuanmouraptor jinshajiangensis Presents the most complete skull of the basal branch Tetanuran It has been reported in central China and provides valuable anatomical information on the unusual combination of skull and cervical spine paintings and cinnapomorphy in the Metriacansosauridae,” the scientist said.
“In addition, our phylogenetic analysis restored the phylogenetic position of the Piatonitzxauridae as a sister group of Avezapoda, not within megalosauroidosis.”
“In place of the monophyletic carnosauria (megalosauroidic acid + allosauroidosis), the phylogenetic analysis recovers three major branches within the tesarium in favor of the monophyletic avetheropoda (allosauroidea + coelurosauria).”
“The lack of consensus on the phylogenetic relationships of basal branch adiabatic over the past decades, as well as many relatively fragmentary materials within tetanus, more accurate character coding, and new discoveries of early members of this clade are necessary to unravel the interactions between the basal members of future groups.”
Discovery of Yuanmouraptor jinshajiangensis was reported in a paper Published online in the journal Peerj.
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Y. Zou et al. 2025. A new Metriantosauld wild-wrench dinosaur from the central Jurassic region of Yunnan Province, China. Peerj 13:E19218; doi:10.7717/peerj.19218
Source: www.sci.news
