Open Paleo

Jingiella

Ren et al., 2025

Named for the Jing region or Jingia locality in Guangxi, China (diminutive '-ella' suffix), originally named 'Jingia' before a nomenclatural amendment.

154.8–149.2 million years ago Kimmeridgian, Late Jurassic
Late Jurassic stages

Jingiella is an extinct genus of mamenchisaurid sauropod dinosaur from the Late Jurassic Dongxing Formation of Guangxi, China. The genus contains a single species, J. dongxingensis, known from vertebrae and limb bones. The original description of Jingiella referred to it using the name "Jingia" which was preoccupied by a moth genus named in 1983, and an amendment was published shortly thereafter, establishing Jingiella as the new replacement name.

Diagnosis

  1. Ratio of neural spine length to narrowest width of the neural arch of the dorsal vertebra is about 4.4 (autapomorphy)
  2. Sacral centrum is opisthocoelous with a shallow depression on the lateral surface
  3. Centra of the anterior caudal vertebrae are amphicoelous, with transversely compressed articular surfaces
  4. Anterolateral and anteromedial processes of the ulna are generally perpendicular to each other in proximal view
  5. Femoral head is medially oriented
  6. Middle portions of both the anterior and posterior surfaces of the femur are slightly concave

Species

Jingiella dongxingensis Ren et al., 2025

Type species

Named for Dongxing City in Guangxi, southern China, where the holotype was discovered.

Holotype
DXJL2021001 , Dongxing Municipal Bureau of Natural Resources
Material
Two dorsal vertebrae, one sacral vertebra, three caudal vertebrae, left and right ulnae, and a right femur.
Horizon
lower Dongxing Formation, Kimmeridgian, Late Jurassic , 154.8–149.2 million years ago
Locality
Nanmushan village, Dongxing Town, Guangxi, China

References

  1. Ren, X. X.; Wang, X. R.; Ji, Y. N.; Guo, Z.; Ji, Q. (2024). The first mamenchisaurid from the Upper Jurassic Dongxing Formation of Guangxi, southernmost China. Historical Biology 37(3): 465-478. Informa UK Limited. doi:10.1080/08912963.2024.2309287

    Original description of the taxon, published under the genus name Jingia.

    ren2024a
  2. Ren, X. X.; Wang, X. R.; Ji, Y. N.; Guo, Z.; Ji, Q. (2025). Addendum. Historical Biology 37(1): 153. Informa UK Limited. doi:10.1080/08912963.2024.2325806

    Established Jingiella as the replacement name for Jingia, preoccupied by a moth genus.

    ren2025a
  3. Jones, B. (2026). The Princeton Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs: Sauropods. Princeton University Press.

    Source of the body length estimate, and the appearance features.

    jones2026b