Yongjinglong
Name:
Yongjinglong
(Yongjing dragon).
Phonetic: Yong-jing-long.
Named By: Li-Guo Li, Da-Qing Li, Hai-Lu You
& Peter Dodson - 2014.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia, Dinosauria,
Saurischia, Theropoda, Sauropoda, Titanosauria.
Species: Y. datangi (type).
Diet: Herbivore.
Size: Uncertain. The holotype fossils are from an
incomplete individual, but one that is estimated to have been about
15-18 meters long. Evidence suggests however that this specimen is
of a juvenile or subadult and not a fully grown adult, therefor the
true adult size remains unknown.
Known locations: China, Gansu province.
Time period: Early Cretaceous.
Fossil representation: Teeth and partial remains
including vertebrae, rib, ulna, radius, coracoid and scapula of
a juvenile or subadult.
Perhaps
the most unusual feature of Yongjinglong is the
scapula, the part
that is equivalent to your own shoulder blade. Although the holotype
individual has been estimated to have been about fifteen to eighteen
meters long, the shoulder blade was unusually large in proportion at
two meters long in itself. In addition to the huge size, the
scapula was also very straight and did not bow outwards like in other
known titanosaurs.
Assuming that this form is not a case of
distortion while being preserved, this may indicate that Yongjinglong
had an unusual body form in life.
Unfused
portions of the shoulder blade have also revealed that the individual
Yongjinglong described as the holotype was either a
juvenile or
subadult at the time of its death. This means that while the
holotype individual is estimated at about fifteen to eighteen meters
long, fully grown adults would have certainly been larger.
Yongjinglong
was named after Yongjing County in Gansu Province, China due to the
location of the holotype remains. The species name Y.
datangi is in
honour of the Tang dynasty as well as Mr. Zhi-Lu Tang for his work in
the study of dinosaurs.
Further reading
- A New Titanosaurian Sauropod from the Hekou Group (Lower
Cretaceous) of the Lanzhou-Minhe Basin, Gansu Province, China
- In Butler, Richard J. PLoS ONE 9: e85979 - Li-Guo Li,
Da-Qing Li, Hai-Lu You & Peter Dodson - 2014.
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