Analong Explained

Analong (meaning "Ana dragon") is a genus of mamenchisaurid sauropod dinosaur from the Chuanjie Formation in Yunnan, China. The type and only species is Analong chuanjieensis.[1]

Discovery and naming

The holotype, LFGT LCD 9701–1, found in 1995, was in 2011 assigned to the contemporary genus Chuanjiesaurus.[2] However, in 2020, Ren et al. noted several differences between it and the holotype of Chuanjiesaurus, and so assigned it to a new taxon, Analong chuanjieensis. The binomial name means "Ana dragon from Chuanjie," where Ana is the village in Yunnan Province where the holotype was found.

Classification

In a phylogenetic analysis, Analong was found by its describers to be the earliest diverging mamenchisaurid. Their resulting phylogenetic tree of Mamenchisauridae is reproduced below.

Notes and References

  1. Xin-Xin Ren . Toru Sekiya . Tao Wang . Zhi-Wen Yang . Hai-Lu You . 2020 . A revision of the referred specimen of Chuanjiesaurus anaensis Fang et al., 2000: a new early branching mamenchisaurid sauropod from the Middle Jurassic of China . Historical Biology: An International Journal of Paleobiology . 33 . 9 . 1872–1887 . 10.1080/08912963.2020.1747450 . 216283529 .
  2. T. . Sekiya . 2011 . Re-examination of Chuanjiesaurus anaensis (Dinosauria: Sauropoda) from the Middle Jurassic Chuanjie Formation, Lufeng County, Yunnan Province, southwest China . Memoir of the Fukui Prefectural Dinosaur Museum . 10 . 1–54 .