Lufengosaurus
Skeletal reconstruction of Lufengosaurus magnus in the Beijing Museum of Natural History
- Asia (China )
- Lufengosaurus huenei Young, 1941
- Lufengosaurus magnus Young, 1947
Lufengosaurus (Chinese禄 丰 龙/禄 丰 龙, pinyin Lùfēnglóng ) is a genus prosauropoder dinosaurs ( Prosauropoda ) from the Lower Jurassic ( Hettangian to Sinemurian ) of China.
A six -meter-long skeleton was the first complete skeleton of a dinosaur that was issued in China. 1958 a special stamp was issued to mark the occasion.
Discovery and species name
The holotype was discovered in the Lower Lufeng Formation in Southwest China in Lufeng County of Yunnan Province. Chung Chien Young ( CC Young, actually Yang Zhongjian ) described him in 1941 as the type species L. huenei. In 1947 he described a second species as L. magnus. This animal was greater than L. huenei (Latin magnus 'great' ) up to a third.
System
In 1981, Cooper had proposed to see Lufengosaurus together with Yunnanosaurus as species of the South African genus Massospondylus. However, a 2005 made re-examination of the skull came to the conclusion that Lufengosaurus is an independent, distinguishable from Massospondylus and Yunnanosaurus genus.
Paleobiology
Like all prosauropods had Lufengosaurus longer rear -and front legs and was at least temporarily biped, especially in search of food. He was an herbivore, but had sharp claws ( with a particularly large as with all Sauropodomorpha thumb claw) and teeth. These latter characteristics in the past served as support for the thesis Lufengosaurus would have been an omnivore. However, the sharp teeth in Lufengosaurus and other prosauropods are comparable with those of the iguana -like today, that feed on plants. The sharp claws may have been needed for defense purposes, or have been helpful in tearing of foliage.
Lufengosaurus magnus Skull in the Beijing Museum of Natural History.
Credentials
Swell
- Dong Zhiming: Dinosaurs from China. China Ocean Press, British Museum (Natural History ), Beijing, 1988, ISBN 0-565-01073-5.
- Dong Zhiming: Dinosaurian faunas of China. China Ocean Press, Beijing 1992, ISBN 3-540-52084-8.