Lufengosaurus

Lufengosaurus
	Skeleton reconstruction of Lufengosaurus magnus in the Natural History Museum Beijing
Temporal occurrence
	Lower Jurassic ( Hettangian to Sinemurian )
	201.3 to 190.8 million years
Locations
	China;
Systematics
	Dinosaur (dinosauria)
	Lizard dinosaur (Saurischia)
	Sauropodomorpha
	Anchisauria
	Massospondylidae
	Lufengosaurus
Scientific name
	Lufengosaurus
	CC Young , 1941
species
	Lufengosaurus huenei Young, 1941 ; Lufengosaurus magnus Young, 1947 ;

Lufengosaurus ( Chinese 祿豐龍 / 禄丰龙 , Pinyin Lùfēnglóng ) is a genus prosauropod dinosaur (Prosauropoda) from the Lower Jurassic ( Hettangium to Sinemurium ) of China .

A skeleton about six meters long was the first complete skeleton of a dinosaur to be exhibited in China. In 1958 a special stamp was issued for the occasion .

Discovery and species name

The holotype was discovered in the Lower Lufeng Formation in southwest China in Lufeng County, Yunnan Province . Chung Chien Young (CC Young, actually Yang Zhongjian) described it in 1941 as the type species L. huenei . In 1947 he described a second species as L. magnus . This animal was up to a third larger than L. huenei ( lat . Magnus "large").

Systematics

In 1981, Cooper had proposed that Lufengosaurus and Yunnanosaurus be considered a species of the South African genus Massospondylus . However, a 2005 re-examination of the skull came to the conclusion that Lufengosaurus is an independent genus that can be distinguished from Massospondylus and Yunnanosaurus .

Paleobiology

Like all prosauropods, Lufengosaurus had longer hind legs than front legs and was at least temporarily biped , especially when foraging for food. It was a herbivore , but had sharp claws (with a thumb claw that was particularly large, as in all sauropodomorpha ) and teeth. These latter characteristics served in the past as evidence for the thesis Lufengosaurus would have been omnivorous . However, the sharp teeth of Lufengosaurus and other prosauropods are comparable to those of today's iguanas who feed on plants. The sharp claws may have been used for defense purposes or were helpful in tearing off foliage.

Basin of Lufengosaurus huenei in Cosmocaixa in Barcelona
Lufengosaurus magnus skull in the Natural History Museum Beijing .

literature

Dong Zhiming : Dinosaurs from China. English text by Angela C. Milner. English edition. British Museum (Natural History) et al., London et al. 1988, ISBN 0-565-01073-5 .
Dong Zhiming: Dinosaurian Faunas of China. China Ocean Press et al., Beijing 1992, ISBN 3-540-52084-8 .

Web links

credentials

^ Gregory S. Paul : The Princeton Field Guide To Dinosaurs. Princeton University Press, Princeton NJ et al. 2010, ISBN 978-0-691-13720-9 , p. 165, online .
↑ Michael R. Cooper: The Prosauropod Dinosaur Massospondylus carinatus Owen From Zimbabwe: Its Biology, Mode of Life and Phylogenetic Significance (= Occasional Papers of the National Museums and Monuments of Rhodesia. Series B: Natural Sciences. Vol. 6, No. 10 , ZDB -ID 405377-1 ). National Museums and Monuments, Salisbury 1981.
^ Paul M. Barrett , Paul Upchurch , Wang Xiao-Lin: Cranial osteology of Lufengosaurus huenei Young (Dinosauria: Prosauropoda) from the Lower Jurassic of Yunnan, People's Republic of China. In: Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. Vol. 25, No. 4, 2005, ISSN 0272-4634 , pp. 806-822, doi : 10.1671 / 0272-4634 (2005) 025 [0806: COOLHY] 2.0.CO; 2 .
^ Paul M. Barrett: Prosauropod dinosaurs and iguanas: speculations on the diets of extinct reptiles. In: Hans-Dieter Sues (Ed.): Evolution of herbivory in terrestrial vertebrates. Perspectives from the fossil record. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge et al. 2000, ISBN 0-521-59449-9 , pp. 42-78, doi : 10.1017 / CBO9780511549717.004 .

[1] Gregory S. Paul : The Princeton Field Guide To Dinosaurs. Princeton University Press, Princeton NJ et al. 2010, ISBN 978-0-691-13720-9 , p. 165, online .

[2] Michael R. Cooper: The Prosauropod Dinosaur Massospondylus carinatus Owen From Zimbabwe: Its Biology, Mode of Life and Phylogenetic Significance (= Occasional Papers of the National Museums and Monuments of Rhodesia. Series B: Natural Sciences. Vol. 6, No. 10 , ZDB -ID 405377-1 ). National Museums and Monuments, Salisbury 1981.

[3] Paul M. Barrett , Paul Upchurch , Wang Xiao-Lin: Cranial osteology of Lufengosaurus huenei Young (Dinosauria: Prosauropoda) from the Lower Jurassic of Yunnan, People's Republic of China. In: Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. Vol. 25, No. 4, 2005, ISSN 0272-4634 , pp. 806-822, doi : 10.1671 / 0272-4634 (2005) 025 [0806: COOLHY] 2.0.CO; 2 .

[Barrett-4] Paul M. Barrett: Prosauropod dinosaurs and iguanas: speculations on the diets of extinct reptiles. In: Hans-Dieter Sues (Ed.): Evolution of herbivory in terrestrial vertebrates. Perspectives from the fossil record. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge et al. 2000, ISBN 0-521-59449-9 , pp. 42-78, doi : 10.1017 / CBO9780511549717.004 .