Wudingloong
From 'Wuding' (Wuding County, Yunnan Province, China, where the type locality lies) and Mandarin Chinese 'loong' (dragon).
Wudingloong is an extinct genus of early-diverging massopodan sauropodomorph dinosaur from the Hettangian-early Sinemurian (Early Jurassic) Yubacun Formation at Wande Town in Wuding County, Yunnan Province, southern China. The single species, Wudingloong wui, is known from a partial articulated skeleton (LFGT-YW002) preserving most of the skull, the anterior axial column, and a complete right forelimb. Wang and colleagues (2025) recover Wudingloong as sister to Plateosauravus + Ruehleia, outside Massospondylidae and Sauropodiformes, and argue it is both the earliest-diverging and stratigraphically oldest sauropodomorph known from East Asia.
Diagnosis
- Ascending ramus of the maxilla excavated by a triangular antorbital fossa.
- Axial intercentrum completely fused to the axis and slightly mediolaterally wider than the anterior surface of the axial centrum.
- Distinct blade-like ventral keel on the middle cervical centra, extending the full length of the centrum.
- Humerus with a slender shaft (minimum width 0.12x total length) and a flat, low, only slightly convex humeral head.
- Ungual of manual digit I large and robust, with length ~2.9x and proximal height and width ~3.2x those of the ungual of manual digit III.
- Metacarpal V gracile with an hourglass-shaped outline; proximal end approximately as wide transversely as the distal end.
Species
Wudingloong wui Wang et al., 2025
Type species
Honors Xiao-Chun Wu of the Canadian Museum of Nature, for contributions to research on Yunnan dinosaurs and other vertebrates.
- Holotype
- LFGT-YW002 , Bureau of Natural Resources of Lufeng County (formerly Bureau of Land and Resources of Lufeng County)
- Material
- Partial skeleton including skull and mandible, atlas-axis, cervical vertebrae 3-10, dorsal vertebrae 1-7, dorsal ribs, right scapula and coracoid, right humerus, ulna, radius, and manus.
- Horizon
- Yubacun Formation, Hettangian–Sinemurian, Early Jurassic , 201.4–192.9 million years ago
- Locality
- Wande Town, Yunnan, China
References
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Wang, Y. M.; Zhang, Q. N.; Wang, Y. C.; Xu, H.; Chen, J.; Feng, Z.; Xu, X.; Wang, T.; You, H. L. (2025). A new Early Jurassic dinosaur represents the earliest-diverging and oldest sauropodomorph of East Asia. Scientific Reports 15(1). Springer Science and Business Media LLC. doi:10.1038/s41598-025-12185-2
Erects Wudingloong as the earliest-diverging and stratigraphically oldest known sauropodomorph from East Asia; recovered as sister to Plateosauravus + Ruehleia outside Massospondylidae.
wang2025a