Chinese researchers discover East Asia’s oldest sauropodomorph dinosaur
KUNMING, 8 August (BelTA — China Daily) — A team of Chinese researchers
has discovered a new dinosaur assemblage from the Lower Jurassic period
in Wuding county, Southwest China’s Yunnan province, representing the
oldest sauropodomorph found in East Asia, according to a recent article
published in the journal Scientific Reports.
In 2020, a
previously unknown dinosaur assemblage was found in the Lower Jurassic
strata at Wande township in Wuding county. The researchers from the
Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropologyc (IVPP), the
Geological Museum of China, Yunnan University and the local natural
resources bureau spent five years restoring and studying the fossils,
ultimately naming the species Wudingloong.
The Wudingloong fossil consists of relatively well-preserved cranial bones, cervical and dorsal vertebrae, and forelimb bones.
Both
the phylogenetic analysis and stratigraphic horizon indicate that
Wudingloong represents the earliest-diverging and stratigraphically
oldest sauropodomorph dinosaur discovered in East Asia so far, said You
Hailu, a researcher at the IVPP.
This dinosaur dates back to the earliest period of the Early Jurassic, about 200 million years ago, You added.
Building on previous research, this study developed a novel phylogenetic character matrix.
Compared
with other named sauropodomorphs in East Asia, Wudingloong is notably
smaller, with smoother tooth enamel, a more slender scapula, a higher
radius-to-humerus length ratio, and longer fingers, suggesting it was
likely a bipedal dinosaur.
The discovery of this new taxon adds
to the evidence that the sauropodomorph assemblage in southwestern China
ranks among the most taxonomically diverse and morphologically varied
of the Early Jurassic worldwide, according to the research article.
