Yantaloong
From Chinese 'Yanta' (wild goose tower, a noted historical site in the Chuxiong Yi Autonomous Prefecture where the holotype was collected) and Mandarin 'loong' (dragon).
Yantaloong is an extinct genus of basal eusauropod dinosaur from the Middle Jurassic middle Zhanghe Formation at Zhongbanjing Village, Yuanmou County, Chuxiong Yi Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province, China. The single species, Yantaloong lini, is known from six nearly complete presacral vertebrae of an adult individual. Phylogenetic analyses by Zhang and colleagues (2026) recover Yantaloong as an early-branching member of an expanded Turiasauria, in a clade with Lapparentosaurus, Atlasaurus, and Jobaria, sister to the 'traditional' Iberian / North American turiasaurians. The authors claim Yantaloong is the first turiasaurian sauropod known from East Asia and argue its presence undermines the hypothesized East Asian sauropodomorph isolation. The expanded Turiasauria definition is single-paper-recent; the conservative parent Eusauropoda is used pending broader adoption.
Under dispute
Yantaloong is recovered, in the favored analysis of its describers, within a broadened Turiasauria together with Lapparentosaurus, Atlasaurus, and Jobaria, but alternative topologies place it as the earliest-diverging neosauropod (basal macronarian) or as the sister taxon to Lapparentosaurus (Zhang and colleagues, 2026).
Diagnosis
- Posterior-most cervical vertebra bears a bifurcated posterior centrodiapophyseal lamina (bif.PCDL) and a bifurcated centropostzygapophyseal lamina (bif.CPOL).
- Anterior-most dorsal vertebra has both an upper and a lower anterior centroparapophyseal lamina (u.ACPL and l.ACPL), with a small fossa at the anteroventral corner of the parapophysis.
- Middle dorsal vertebrae bear a lamina-like anteromedial centropostzygapophyseal lamina (am.CPOL) and a prezygoparapophyseal lamina (PRPL) bifurcated both dorsally and ventrally with a ventral PRPL fossa.
- Middle dorsal vertebrae possess a rhombus-shaped hyposphene supported by a vertical ventral infrahyposphenal lamina and paired ventrolateral infrahyposphenal laminae.
- Posterior dorsal neural arches bear a dorsoventrally elongated oval-shaped hyposphene.
Species
Yantaloong lini Zhang et al., 2026
Type species
Honors Professor Wenxun Lin for contributions to Chinese economic history studies and support for paleontological research in Yunnan.
- Holotype
- LFGT-ZLJ0073 , Lufeng World Dinosaur Valley
- Material
- Six nearly complete presacral vertebrae from a single individual — one possible posterior-most cervical and five dorsals (anterior-most through posterior).
- Horizon
- middle Zhanghe Formation, Aalenian–Bathonian, Middle Jurassic , 174.7–165.3 million years ago
- Locality
- Zhongbanjing Village, Yunnan, China Zhang and colleagues (2026) give "Zhanghe Formation, Middle Jurassic". They also relay a correlation of the Zhanghe with the Chuanjie Formation, which Huang and colleagues (2021) place in "the Middle Jurassic, including the top of Toarcian to Bathonian"; the Toarcian rests only on that relayed correlation.
References
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Zhang, X. Q.; Wang, Y. M.; Wang, Z. J.; Wang, Y. C.; Wang, T.; Wang, G. F.; Zou, Y.; Dong, Q. X.; Su, X.; Jiang, H.; Wang, Y. J.; You, H. L. (2026). The first turiasaurian sauropod (Dinosauria: Eusauropoda) from East Asia. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 206(2): zlaf201. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/zoolinnean/zlaf201
Erects Yantaloong as the first turiasaurian sauropod from East Asia; proposes an expanded Turiasauria including Lapparentosaurus, Atlasaurus, and Jobaria.
zhang2026a -
Huang, D. Y.; Fang, Y. N.; Li, J. G.; Li, X. (2021). Lithostratigraphic subdivision and correlation of the Jurassic in China. Journal of Stratigraphy 45(3): 364-374. doi:10.19839/j.cnki.dcxzz.2021.0029
Places the Chuanjie Formation, which Zhang and colleagues (2026) correlate with the Zhanghe, in the Middle Jurassic from the top of the Toarcian to the Bathonian.
huang2021a