Yuanmousaurus
| Yuanmousaurus | ||||||||||
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| Temporal occurrence | ||||||||||
| Middle Jurassic | ||||||||||
| 174.1 to 163.5 million years | ||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||
| Yuanmousaurus | ||||||||||
| Lu et al. , 2006 | ||||||||||
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Yuanmousaurus is a genus of sauropod dinosaur from the Central Jurassic of China . So far, only a single fragmentary, skullless skeleton is known, which was discovered in the layers of the Zhanghe Formation near Yuanmou in Yunnan Province. Yuanmousaurus was an original representative of the sauropods, in a more recent study the genus is classified within the Mamenchisauridae . Yuanmousaurus wasscientifically described in 2006 with the only species, Yuanmousaurus jiangyiensis .
features
With a body length of approximately 17 meters, it is a large representative of the sauropods. As with other representatives of this group of dinosaurs, the appearance was characterized by a very long neck. The few surviving remains of the neck point to cervical vertebrae of the elongated type, as are typical of representatives of the Mamenchisauridae , which suggests that the neck may have been particularly long in comparison with other sauropods. The forelegs were longer in relation to the hind legs than in the short-necked Shunosaurus , but shorter than in the Omeisaurus - the length ratio between the humerus and thigh bone is about 0.72, while it is 0.56 in the Shunosaurus and over 0.80 in the Omeisaurus .
Valuable features for the scientific diagnosis are found primarily on the vertebrae: the vertebral arches, for example, had three lateral cavities, while the related Omeisaurus had no such cavities.
Systematics
Yuanmousaurus is considered an original representative of the Eusauropoda and is classified outside of the Neosauropoda , which includes all advanced sauropods. In the first description this genus is assigned to the Euhelopodidae ; this group is very controversial because of the unclear systematic position of Euhelopus . Sekiya (2011) attributes Yuanmousaurus to the Mamenchisauridae , along with Mamenchisaurus , Tienshanosaurus and Chuanjiesaurus .
Discovery story and find
The only skeleton was recovered in May 2000 by a team from the Yunnan Province Institute of Cultural Relics and Archeology. The site is located in Jiangyi Township in Yuanmou County , as indicated by the scientific genus and species name ( Yuanmousaurus jiangyiensis ). The skeleton comprises vertebrae (the fragment of a cervical vertebra, 9 dorsal vertebrae, 3 sacral vertebrae, 7 tail vertebrae), bones of the front legs ( humerus , ulna , spoke ), an iliac bone and bones of the hind legs ( femur , tibia , fibula , ankle bone and a claw) . The fossils are archived in the collection of the Yuanmou Museum under copy number YMV 601.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e Junchang Lü, Shaoxue Li, Qiang Ji, Guofu Wang, Jiahua Zhang, Zhiming Dong : New Eusauropod Dinosaur from Yuanmou of Yunnan Province, China. In: Acta Geologica Sinica. English edition. Vol. 80, No. 1, 2006, ISSN 1000-9515 , pp. 1-10, here p. 9, doi : 10.1111 / j.1755-6724.2006.tb00788.x .
- ↑ Toru Sekiya: Re-examination of Chuanjiesaurus anaensis (Dinosauria: Sauropoda) from the Middle Jurassic Chuanjie Formation, Lufeng County, Yunnan Province, Southwest China. In: Memoir of the Fukui Prefectural Dinosaur Museum. No. 10, 2011, ISSN 1347-5622 , pp. 1–54, digital version (PDF; 9.26 MB) .