Wumengosaurus is an extinct aquatic reptile from the Middle Triassic (late Anisian stage) Guanling Formation of Guizhou, southwestern China. It was originally described as a basal eosauropterygian and usually is recovered as such by phylogenetic analyses,[1][2][3] although one phylogeny has placed it as the sister taxon to Ichthyosauromorpha while refraining from a formal re-positioning.[4] It was a relatively small reptile, measuring 95.5–130.5 cm (3.13–4.28 ft) in total body length.[1]
In 2021, Qin et al. described an additional specimen from Guizhou (Panzhou District) as a new species of Wumengosaurus, W. rotundicarpus.[5]
Classification
In the 2023 description of Luopingosaurus, Xu et al. recovered Wumengosaurus as a derived pachypleurosaurid, as the sister taxon to the clade formed by Luopingosaurus and Honghesaurus. The results of their phylogenetic analyses are shown in the cladogram below:[6]
References
- ^ a b Jiang, Da-Yong; Rieppel, Olivier; Motani, Ryosuke; Hao, Wei-Cheng; Sun, Yuan-Lin; Schmitz, Lars; Sun, Zuo-Yu (2008). "A New Middle Triassic Eosauropterygian (Reptilia, Sauropterygia) from Southwestern China". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 28 (4): 1055–1062. Bibcode:2008JVPal..28.1055J. doi:10.1671/0272-4634-28.4.1055. S2CID 83909484.
- ^ Cheng, Y. N.; Wu, X. C.; Sato, T.; Shan, H. Y. (2012). "A new eosauropterygian (Diapsida, Sauropterygia) from the Triassic of China". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 32 (6): 1335. Bibcode:2012JVPal..32.1335C. doi:10.1080/02724634.2012.695983. S2CID 85253142.
- ^ Da-Yong Jiang; Ryosuke Motani; Andrea Tintori; Olivier Rieppel; Guan-Bao Chen; Jian-Dong Huang; Rong Zhang; Zuo-Yu Sun & Cheng Ji (2014). "The Early Triassic eosauropterygian Majiashanosaurus discocoracoidis, gen. et sp. nov. (Reptilia, Sauropterygia), from Chaohu, Anhui Province, People's Republic of China". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 34 (5): 1044–1052. Bibcode:2014JVPal..34.1044J. doi:10.1080/02724634.2014.846264. S2CID 129828376.
- ^ Chen, Xiao-hong; Motani, Ryosuke; Long, Chen; Jiang, Da-Yong; Rieppel, Olivier (2014). "The enigmatic marine reptile Nanchangosaurus from the Lower Triassic of Hubei, China and the phylogenetic affinities of Hupehsuchia". PLOS ONE. 9 (7): e102361. Bibcode:2014PLoSO...9j2361C. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0102361. PMC 4094528. PMID 25014493.
- ^ Qin, Yanjiao; He, Xiao; Luo, Yongming; Hu, Xinrui; Jiang, Liangbing; Deng, Xiaojie; Shi, Zhenhua; Ran, Weiyu (2021). "A New Species of Wumengosaurus from Panxian Fauna in Middle Triassic of Guizhou Province". Guizhou Geology (in Literary Chinese). 38 (4): 373–381. ISSN 1000-5943.
- ^ Xu, G.-H.; Shang, Q.-H.; Wang, W.; Ren, Y.; Lei, H.; Liao, J.-L.; Zhao, L.-J.; Li, C. (2023). "A new long-snouted marine reptile from the Middle Triassic of China illuminates pachypleurosauroid evolution". Scientific Reports. 13 (1). 16. Bibcode:2023NatSR..13...16X. doi:10.1038/s41598-022-24930-y. ISSN 2045-2322. PMC 9816097. PMID 36604433.
