Chuanjiesaurus

Skeleton cast in the Chinese Museum of Science and Technology in Beijing.

• Yunnan, People's Republic of China ( Chuanjie Formation)

• Chuanjiesaurus anaensis

Chuanjiesaurus is a genus of sauropod dinosaur from the Middle Jurassic of China. Yet a single fund is known which consists of two fragmentary adjacent skeletons. Both skeletons are only partially dissected out from the rock and were protected by a canopy from the weather, left in their locality, the part of the Dinosaur Adventure Park " World Dinosaur Valley " is today. Chuanjiesaurus is counted among the Mamenchisauridae, a previously detected only from China group of early sauropod. Chuanjiesaurus was named in 2000, the name refers to the village Chuanjie where the fossils were discovered. The only way is Chuanjiesaurus anaensis.

Features

Chuanjiesaurus may reach a length of about 25 meters, making it one of the largest early sauropod. His plan was characterized as in other Mamenchisauriden by a long tail and an extremely long neck. Although only the front and middle section of the neck have been handed down - however other Mamenchisauriden had 18-19 cervical vertebrae, more than other sauropods. The cervical vertebrae were also extended - as measures of the vertebral bodies of the eleventh vertebra, the longest sufficiently preserved vertebra, a length of 67.7 centimeters - the height of this vertebral body is only 22.0 centimeters. In addition to the elongated neck Chuanjiesaurus showed more similarities with other Mamenchisauriden: So was the sacrum of four sacral vertebrae; also the vertebrae were only weakly pneumatized ( with air-filled chambers cut out ), while the anterior caudal vertebrae procoel - on the front of concave and convex on the back - were. Of all the other Mamenchisauriden Chuanjiesaurus be distinguished by a number of unique features that can be found mainly on the vertebrae, but also on the limbs.

System

A phylogenetic analysis of Sekiya (2011) comes to the conclusion that Chuanjiesaurus can be classified along with Mamenchisaurus, Tienshanosaurus and Yuanmousaurus within a monophyletic group - the Mamenchisauridae. Whether Omeisaurus is to be classified within this group or is the sister taxon of this group, according to this analysis is unclear. The relationships within the Mamenchisauridae can hardly be resolved. The Mamenchisauridae form a group that is classified within the Eusauropoda but outside the Neosauropoda, which includes all the later sauropods.

Paläohabitat

The fossils are from the Chuanjie lineup. This rock sequence was once considered Subformation the Upper Lufeng Formation; Today, however, it is treated as a separate formation. The formation is dated to the early Middle Jurassic. Your Paläohabitat is poorly understood, recent studies, however, report that the climate at the time of deposition was warm - humid to semi-arid.

Fund and Research History

The first fossils were discovered in 1995 in the Chinese province of Yunnan by Tao Wang from Lufeng Dinosaur Museum in the village Chuanjie in Lufeng County. In the reference consisting of dark red, massive siltstones is a bonebed ( " bone stock "), which holds the remains of two other large sauropods addition to the two Chuanjiesaurus skeletons. These skeletons are, however, get much worse; whether it is Chuanjiesaurus even with them, can not be determined. In addition to the Sauropodenfossilien the reference holds the remains of theropods and Shidaisaurus of four turtles. The sauropod fossils were only partially dissected out from the rock and left in situ in their locality; a small house was in the first years after exposure to the protection from the weather. Today is the reference part opened in 2008 World Dinosaur Valley, the largest dinosaur theme park in China.

The fossils are associated with two copies. The holotype specimen consists of a caudal vertebra series, parts of the shoulder girdle and the forelimbs and parts of the pelvis and hind limbs. The second copy, meanwhile, is made up of vertebrae ( 11 cervical vertebrae, 6 back vertebrae, 4 sacral vertebrae, 25 caudal vertebrae and chevron bones), parts of the arms and pelvis and a femur.

Chuanjiesaurus was described in 2000 by researchers at Xiaosi catch the first time scientifically. This is written in the Chinese language publication, however, is very short, the description has been declared by various commentators as insufficient. 2011 was followed by an extensive redescription by Toru Sekiya.