A brand new genus and species of titanosauriform sauropod dinosaur with an uncommon tail has been recognized from a partial skeleton present in northeastern China.
An artist’s impression of a sauropod dinosaur. Picture credit score: Levi Bernardo / CC BY-SA 3.0.
The newly-identified dinosaur species existed in the course of the Barremian age of the Early Cretaceous epoch, about 125 million years in the past.
Scientifically named Ruixinia zhangi, the traditional creature had a stick-like tail and an estimated size of about 12 m (6.6 ft).
It belonged to the Titanosauriformes, a conspicuous and various group of sauropod dinosaurs.
These dinosaurs inhabited virtually all land lots throughout Cretaceous occasions and contained greater than 50 described species.
“Titanosauriformes is a big clade of sauropod dinosaurs whose members had been current and customary in most Cretaceous terrestrial ecosystems,” mentioned Dr. Jinyou Mo from the Pure Historical past Museum of Guangxi and colleagues.
“Though the variety of named Cretaceous titanosauriforms has dramatically elevated from Asia in current 12 months, most of them are represented by fragmentary materials, with the caudal vertebral collection being particularly poorly recognized.”
“The brand new discover will increase the range of early-branching titanosauriforms in China and highlights the tail morphological range inside this clade.”
The well-preserved partial skeleton of Ruixinia zhangi was recovered from the Decrease Cretaceous Yixian Formation at Batuyingzi in China’s Liaoning Province.
The brand new species was a part of the Jehol Biota, an Early Cretaceous terrestrial and freshwater ecosystem preserved in a multi-layered rock formation in northeastern China.
“Ruixinia zhangi is a medium-sized titanosauriform, however represents the biggest sauropod dinosaur reported from the Jehol Biota, with the size of the femur bigger than these of Liaoningotitan sinensis and Dongbeititan dongi, the 2 titanosauriform sauropods additionally from the Yixian Formation,” the paleontologists mentioned.
“Its discovery provides a brand new factor not solely to the poorly preserved sauropod dinosaur within the Jehol Biota, but in addition to the already intensive range of titanosauriforms within the center Early Cretaceous ecosystems of East Asia.”
The invention is described in a paper revealed this month within the journal Cretaceous Analysis.
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J. Mo et al. A New Titanosauriform Sauropod with an Uncommon Tail from the Decrease Cretaceous of Northeastern China. Cretaceous Analysis, revealed on-line December 9, 2022; doi: 10.1016/j.cretres.2022.105449
