''Lishulong'' (

Traditional Chinese A tradition is a system of beliefs or behaviors (folk custom) passed down within a group of people or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. A component of cultural expressions and folklore, common examp ...

: 栗樹龍

Simplified Chinese Simplification, Simplify, or Simplified may refer to: Mathematics Simplification is the process of replacing a mathematical expression by an equivalent one that is simpler (usually shorter), according to a well-founded ordering. Examples include: ...

: 栗树龙

Pinyin Hanyu Pinyin, or simply pinyin, officially the Chinese Phonetic Alphabet, is the most common romanization system for Standard Chinese. ''Hanyu'' () literally means 'Han Chinese, Han language'—that is, the Chinese language—while ''pinyin' ...

: Lìshùlóng meaning "chestnut tree dragon") is a genus of sauropodiform dinosaur from the

Early Jurassic The Early Jurassic Epoch (geology), Epoch (in chronostratigraphy corresponding to the Lower Jurassic series (stratigraphy), Series) is the earliest of three epochs of the Jurassic Period. The Early Jurassic starts immediately after the Triassic� ...

(

Sinemurian In the geologic timescale, the Sinemurian is an age (geology), age and stage (stratigraphy), stage in the Early Jurassic, Early or Lower Jurassic epoch (geology), Epoch or series (stratigraphy), Series. It spans the time between 199.5 ±0.3 annu ...

–

Toarcian The Toarcian is, in the International Commission on Stratigraphy, ICS' geologic timescale, an age (geology), age and stage (stratigraphy), stage in the Early Jurassic, Early or Lower Jurassic. It spans the time between 184.2 Megaannum, Ma (million ...

)

Lufeng Formation The Lufeng Formation (formerly Lower Lufeng Series) is a Lower Jurassic sedimentary rock formation found in Yunnan, China. It has two units: the lower Dull Purplish Beds/Shawan Member are of Hettangian age, and Dark Red Beds/Zhangjia'ao Member a ...

of China. The type and only species is ''Lishulong wangi''.

Discovery and naming

The

holotype A holotype (Latin: ''holotypus'') is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of s ...

specimen, LFGT-ZLJ0011, was discovered in 2007 in Jiudu Village in Konglongshan Town (formerly named Chuanjie Township),

Lufeng County Lufeng (; Yi script, Chuxiong Yi script: , International Phonetic Alphabet, IPA：) is a county-level city located in Yunnan province, China, administered as a part of Chuxiong Yi Autonomous Prefecture. Geography Lufeng is located in the east of Ch ...

Yunnan Province Yunnan; is an inland Provinces of China, province in Southwestern China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 47.2 million (as of 2020). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the Chinese provinces ...

, China, in sediments belonging to the Shawan Member of the Lufeng Formation. It consists of a cranium, mandible, and nine cervical vertebrae. Parts of the posterior skeleton were also discovered but were lost during excavation. Following the specimen's collection and preparation, it was sent to Lufeng World Dinosaur Valley to be displayed. The type locality is close to where the fossils of the

coelophysoid Coelophysoidea is an extinct clade of theropod dinosaurs common during the Late Triassic and Early Jurassic periods. They were widespread geographically, probably living on all continents. Coelophysoids were all slender, carnivorous forms with a ...

theropod ''

Panguraptor ''Panguraptor'' ("Pangu Chinese godplunderer") is a genus of coelophysid theropod dinosaur known from fossils discovered in Lower Jurassic rocks of southern China. The type and only known species is ''Panguraptor lufengensis''. The generic name ...

'' were discovered. The sauropodomorph remains were described as belonging to a new genus and species of dinosaur in 2024. The generic name, ''Lishulong'', combines the

Mandarin Chinese Mandarin ( ; zh, s=, t=, p=Guānhuà, l=Mandarin (bureaucrat), officials' speech) is the largest branch of the Sinitic languages. Mandarin varieties are spoken by 70 percent of all Chinese speakers over a large geographical area that stretch ...

words 栗樹/栗树(''lìshù'')—meaning "chestnut tree"—after the name of the type locality, with 龍/龙 (''lóng''), meaning "dragon". The

specific name Specific name may refer to: * in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules: * Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...

, ''wangi'', honors Wang Zheng-Ju, the discoverer of ''

Lufengpithecus ''Lufengpithecus'' () is an Extinction, extinct genus of ape, known from the Late Miocene of East Asia. It is known from thousands of Dental anatomy, dental remains and a few skulls and probably weighed about . It contains three species: ''L. luf ...

'', for his contribution to vertebrate paleontology in Lufeng.

Description

At long, the skull of ''Lishulong'' is larger than any other sauropodomorph from the Lufeng Formation. The cervical vertebrae are very large and elongated; the centrum of the first preserved cervical vertebra (the

axis An axis (: axes) may refer to: Mathematics *A specific line (often a directed line) that plays an important role in some contexts. In particular: ** Coordinate axis of a coordinate system *** ''x''-axis, ''y''-axis, ''z''-axis, common names ...

) is long, and the centrum of the last preserved cervical vertebra (the tenth consecutive bone in the series) is long. The related '' Yunnanosaurus youngi'' also preserves the same bones in the neck; its axis is slightly smaller, at long, and its tenth cervical is long. ''Y. youngi'' has been estimated to have a body length of around .

Classification

Zhang et al. (2024) included ''Lishulong'' in a

phylogenetic analysis In biology, phylogenetics () is the study of the evolutionary history of life using observable characteristics of organisms (or genes), which is known as phylogenetic inference. It infers the relationship among organisms based on empirical data ...

and found it to be a member of the Sauropodiformes, as the

sister taxon In phylogenetics, a sister group or sister taxon, also called an adelphotaxon, comprises the closest relative(s) of another given unit in an evolutionary tree. Definition The expression is most easily illustrated by a cladogram: Taxon A and ...

to ''

Yunnanosaurus ''Yunnanosaurus'' ( ) is an extinct genus of sauropodomorph dinosaur that lived approximately 199 to 183 million years ago in what is now the Yunnan Province, in China, for which it was named. ''Yunnanosaurus'' was a large sized, moderately-buil ...

''.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q131429718 Massopoda Dinosaur genera Pliensbachian dinosaurs Lufeng Formation Taxa named by Hailu You Fossil taxa described in 2024 Dinosaurs of China