Abstract
The Lufeng Formation in Lufeng Basin of Yunnan Province, southwestern China preserves one of the richest terrestrial Lower Jurassic vertebrate faunas globally, especially for its basal sauropodomorphs, such as Lufengosaurus and Yunnanosaurus. Here we report a new taxon, Xingxiulong chengi gen. et sp. nov. represented by three partial skeletons with overlapping elements. Xingxiulong possesses a number of autapomorphies, such as transversely expanded plate-like summit on top of the neural spine of posterior dorsal vertebrae, four sacral vertebrae, robust scapula, and elongated pubic plate approximately 40% of the total length of the pubis. Phylogenetic analysis resolves Xingxiulong as a basal member of Sauropodiformes, and together with another two Lufeng basal sauropodiforms Jingshanosaurus and Yunnanosaurus, they represent the basalmost lineages of this clade, indicating its Asian origin. Although being relatively primitive, Xingxiulong displays some derived features normally occurred in advanced sauropodiforms including sauropods, such as a four sacral-sacrum, a robust scapula, and a pubis with elongated pubic plate. The discovery of Xingxiulong increases the diversity of basal sauropodomorphs from the Lufeng Formation and indicates a more complicated scenario in the early evolution of sauropodiforms.
Highlights
Non-sauropodan basal sauropodomorphs are a diverse and widespread group of herbivorous dinosaurs lived throughout much of Pangaea during Late Triassic to Early Jurassic[1]
Our morphological and comparative studies show that they represent a single new taxon, and phylogenetic analysis recovers it as a basal sauropodiform
The strict consensus tree obtained from the phylogenetic analysis shows a large polytomy formed by most of basal sauropodiforms
Summary
Non-sauropodan basal sauropodomorphs are a diverse and widespread group of herbivorous dinosaurs lived throughout much of Pangaea during Late Triassic to Early Jurassic[1]. Since the first basal sauropodomorph, Lufengosaurus huenei, was reported in 19412, five genera have been reported from the Lower Jurassic Lufeng Formation in Lufeng Basin[3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10] (Table 1). We report on a new basal sauropodomorph taxon from the Shawan Member of the Lower Jurassic Lufeng Formation. Our morphological and comparative studies show that they represent a single new taxon, and phylogenetic analysis recovers it as a basal sauropodiform. Basal, this new taxon possesses a derived four-sacral sauropod-like sacrum, a robust scapula, and a sauropod-like pubis, implying complexity in the evolution from basal sauropodiforms to true sauropods
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