Lufeng Formation

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Lufeng Formation
Stratigraphic range: Hettangian-Pliensbachian
~201–183  Ma
Type Geological formation
Sub-unitsShawan & Zhangjia'ao Members
Underlies Chuanjie Formation
Overlies Precambrian slate basement
Thicknessover 300 metres (980 ft)
Lithology
Primary Siltstone
Other Sandstone
Location
Coordinates 25°00′N102°06′E / 25.0°N 102.1°E / 25.0; 102.1
Approximate paleocoordinates 34°18′N104°36′E / 34.3°N 104.6°E / 34.3; 104.6
Region Yunnan
Country China
Extent Yunnan Basin
China edcp relief location map.jpg
Blue pog.svg
Lufeng Formation (China)
China Yunnan rel location map.svg
Blue pog.svg
Lufeng Formation (Yunnan)

The Lufeng Formation (formerly Lower Lufeng Series) is a Lower Jurassic sedimentary rock formation found in Yunnan, China. It has two units: the lower Dull Purplish Beds/Shawan Member are of Hettangian age, and Dark Red Beds/Zhangjia'ao Member are of Sinemurian age. [1] It is known for its fossils of early dinosaurs. The Dull Purplish Beds have yielded the possible therizinosaur Eshanosaurus , the possible theropod Lukousaurus , and the "prosauropods" "Gyposaurus" sinensis, Lufengosaurus , Jingshanosaurus , and Yunnanosaurus . Dinosaurs discovered in the Dark Red Beds include the theropod Sinosaurus triassicus , the "prosauropods" "Gyposaurus", Lufengosaurus, and Yunnanosaurus, indeterminate remains of sauropods, and the early armored dinosaurs Bienosaurus and Tatisaurus . [2]

Contents

Paleofauna

Rhynchocephalians

Rhynchocephalians reported from the Lufeng Formation
GenusSpeciesLocationStratigraphic positionMaterialNotes

Clevosaurus [3]

Indeterminate

Yunnan

Partial skulls and jaws. [3] The three named species do not display any autapomorphic characters and should be considered indeterminate within the genus. Only record of rhynchocephalians from Asia. [3]

Crurotarsans

Crurotarsans reported from the Lufeng Formation
GenusSpeciesLocationStratigraphic positionMaterialNotes

Dianchungosaurus [4]

D. lufengensis [4]

Yunnan [4]

Dark Red Beds [4]

Formerly considered an ornithopod dinosaur.

Ornithischians

Indeterminate ornithopod remains Yunnan. Dark Red Beds. [2]

Ornithischians reported from the Lufeng Formation
GenusSpeciesLocationStratigraphic positionMaterialNotes

Bienosaurus [4] [5]

B. lufengensis [4]

Yunnan [4]

Dark Red Beds [4]

A right "[d]entary with teeth," [6] with additional cranial fragments such as a partial frontal. These specimens are catalogued as IVPP V 9612. The dentary preserves 11 teeth or roots with two additional empty alveoli.

Tatisaurus [4]

T. oehleri [4]

Yunnan [4]

Dark Red Beds [4]

"Isolated dentary." [6]

Sauropodomorphs

Color key
Taxon Reclassified taxonTaxon falsely reported as presentDubious taxon or junior synonym Ichnotaxon Ootaxon Morphotaxon
Notes
Uncertain or tentative taxa are in small text; crossed out taxa are discredited.
Sauropodomorphs reported from the Lufeng Formation
GenusSpeciesLocationStratigraphic positionMaterialNotesImages

Chuxiongosaurus [7]

C. lufengensis [7]

Yunnan [7]

"Skull [7]

"Gyposaurus" sinensis Gyposaurus-outline-basicidea.svg
"Gyposaurus" sinensis
Jingshanosaurus Jingshanosaurus xinwaensis.png
Jingshanosaurus
Lishulong Lishulong wangi.png
Lishulong
Lufengosaurus Lufengosaurus sketch2.jpg
Lufengosaurus
Xingxiulong Xingxiulong yueorum.png
Xingxiulong
Yunnanosaurus Yunnanosaurus BW.jpg
Yunnanosaurus

Gyposaurus [8]

G. sinensis [8]

Yunnan [8]

  • Dark Red Beds [4]
  • Dull Purplish Beds [9]

"[Two] skeletons, [one] with partial skull, [two] partial skeletons, [three] skull fragments, adult." [10]

Fulengia [4]

F. youngi [4]

Yunnan [4]

  • Dark Red Beds [4]

"Skull." [11]

Jingshanosaurus [9]

J. xinwaensis [9]

Yunnan [9]

  • Dull Purplish Beds [9]

"Complete skeleton with skull, adult." [10]

"Kunmingosaurus" [4]

"K. wusdingensis" [4]

Yunnan [4]

  • Dark Red Beds [4]

nomen nudum

Lishulong [12] L. wangi [12] Yunnan [12] Skull and cervical vertebrae 2–10 [12]

Lufengosaurus [8]

L. huenei [8]

Yunnan [8]

  • Dark Red Beds [4]
  • Dull Purplish [9]

"(including Gyposaurus sinensis, L. magnus)" [2]

L. magnus [8]

Yunnan [8]

  • Dark Red Beds [4]
  • Dull Purplish [9]

Tawasaurus [4]

T. minor [4]

Yunnan [4]

  • Dark Red Beds [4]
Xingxiulong X. chengiYunnan
X. yueorum [13] Yunnan
  • Zhangjiaao Member
LF2015-NO01, an articulated postcranial skeleton
Yizhousaurus [14] Y. sunaeYunnan
  • Zhangjiaao Member
Partial skeleton with skull

Yunnanosaurus [8]

Y. huangi [8]

Yunnan [8]

  • Dark Red Beds [4]
  • Dull Purplish [9]

"More than [twenty] partial to complete skeletons, [two] skulls, juvenile to adult." [11]

Y. robustus [8]

Yunnan [8]

  • Dark Red Beds [4]
  • Dull Purplish [9]

Theropods

Theropods reported from the Lower Lufeng Formation
GenusSpeciesLocationStratigraphic positionMaterialNotesImages

Eshanosaurus [9]

E. deguchiianus [9]

Yunnan [9]

  • Dull Purplish Beds [9]

"Dentary." [15]

Possible therizinosaur

Sinosaurus triassicus Diloph sin DB1.jpg
Sinosaurus triassicus

Lukousaurus [8]

L. yini [8]

Yunnan [8]

  • Dark Red Beds [4]
  • Dull Purplish Beds [9]
  • Holotype skull, tooth [16]
  • Three bone fragments [17]

Possible crocodylomorph [18]

Sinosaurus [8]

S. triassicus [8]

Yunnan [8]

  • Dark Red Beds [4]
  • Dull Purplish Beds [9]
  • Maxillary fragments, teeth, and a lower jaw fragment
  • Incomplete skull and other post-cranial fragments

Dilophosaurus sinensis specimen

Now included in Sinosaurus

Panguraptor [19] P. lufengensis [19] Yunnan [19]
  • Dull Purplish Beds [19]
  • Partial skeleton [19]
A coelophysid

Cynodonts

Cynodonts reported from the Lufeng Formation
GenusSpeciesLocationStratigraphic positionMaterialNotesImages
Bienotherium
  • B. yuannanese
  • B. magnum
A tritylodontid
Skull of Morganucodon oehleri Morganucodon.svg
Skull of Morganucodon oehleri
Dianzhongia D. longirostrataA tritylodontid
Hadrocodium [20]

H. wui [20]

Yunnan [20]

  • Dark Red Beds
SkullOne of the oldest and smallest mammaliaforms known. Indicates a correlation between the separation of the middle ear bones from the mandible and the expanded brain vault in early mammals. [21]
Lufengia L. delicataA tritylodontid
Morganucodon
  • M. oehleri
  • M. heikuopengensis
Zhangjiawa Member (M. heikuopengensis)

Shawan Member (M. oehleri)

A morganucodontan
Sinoconodon S. rigneyiZhangjiawa MemberA mammaliamorph closely related to Mammaliaformes
Yunnanodon [22] [23]

Y. brevirostre [22]

Yunnan [22]

  • Dark Red Beds
A tritylodontid

See also

References

  1. Luo, Z., and X.-C. Wu. 1994. The small tetrapods of the Lower Lufeng Formation, Yunnan, China; pp. 251–270 in N. C. Fraser and H.-D.Sues (eds.), In the Shadow of the Dinosaurs. Cambridge University Press, New York
  2. 1 2 3 Weishampel, et al. 2004.
  3. 1 2 3 Jones MEH. 2006 The Early Jurassic clevosaurs from China (Diapsida: Lepidosauria). New Mex. Museum Nat. Hist. Sci. Bull. 37, 548–562.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 "48.3 Yunnan, People's Republic of China; 2. Dark Red Beds of the Lower Lufeng Series," in Weishampel, et al. (2004). Page 534.
  5. Raven, Thomas J.; Barrett, Paul M.; Xu, Xing; Maidment, Susannah C.R. (2019). "A reassessment of the purported ankylosaurian dinosaur Bienosaurus lufengensis from the Lower Lufeng Formation of Yunnan, China". Acta Palaeontologica Polonica. 64 (2): 335–342. doi: 10.4202/app.00577.2018 . hdl: 10141/622543 .
  6. 1 2 "Table 15.1," in Weishampel, et al. (2004). Page 336.
  7. 1 2 3 4 Junchang, Lü; Kobayashi, Yoshitsugu; Tianguang, Li; Shimin, Zhong (2010). "A New Basal Sauropod Dinosaur from the Lufeng Basin, Yunnan Province, Southwestern China". Acta Geologica Sinica (English Edition). 84 (6): 1336–1342. Bibcode:2010AcGlS..84.1336L. doi:10.1111/j.1755-6724.2010.00332.x.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 "48.3 Yunnan, People's Republic of China; 1. Dull Purplish Beds of the Lower Lufeng Series and 2. Dark Red Beds of the Lower Lufeng Series" in Weishampel, et al. (2004). Page 534.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 "48.3 Yunnan, People's Republic of China; 1. Dull Purplish Beds of the Lower Lufeng Series," in Weishampel, et al. (2004). Page 534.
  10. 1 2 "Table 12.1," in Weishampel, et al. (2004). Page 234.
  11. 1 2 "Table 12.1," in Weishampel, et al. (2004). Page 236.
  12. 1 2 3 4 5 Zhang, Q.; Jia, L.; Wang, T.; Zhang, Y.; You, H. (2024). "The largest sauropodomorph skull from the Lower Jurassic Lufeng Formation of China". PeerJ. 12. e18629. doi: 10.7717/peerj.18629 . PMC   11646418 .
  13. Chen, Xiang-Yuan; Wang, Ya-Ming; Zhang, Qian-Nan; Wang, Tao; You, Hai-Lu. "A new species of Xingxiulong (Dinosauria, Sauropodomorpha) from the lower Jurassic Lufeng formation of Yunnan Province, China". Historical Biology. 0 (0): 1–10. doi:10.1080/08912963.2025.2458130. ISSN   0891-2963.
  14. Zhang, Qian-Nan; You, Hai-Lu; Wang, Tao; Chatterjee, Sankar (2018-09-07). "A new sauropodiform dinosaur with a 'sauropodan' skull from the Lower Jurassic Lufeng Formation of Yunnan Province, China". Scientific Reports. 8 (1): 13464. Bibcode:2018NatSR...813464Z. doi:10.1038/s41598-018-31874-9. ISSN   2045-2322. PMC   6128897 . PMID   30194381.
  15. "Table 7.1," in Weishampel, et al. (2004). Page 152.
  16. Young, C.C. (1948). "Further notes on Gyposaurus sinensis Young". Bulletin of the Geological Society of China. 28 (1–2): 91–103.
  17. M. N. Bien. 1940. Discovery of Triassic saurischian and primitive mammalian remains at Lufeng, Yunnan. Bulletin of the Geological Society of China 20(3/4):225-234
  18. Irmis, R. B. (2004). "First report of Megapnosaurus (Theropoda: Coelophysoidea) from China". PaleoBios. 24 (3): 11–18.
  19. 1 2 3 4 5 You, Hai-Lu; Azuma, Yoichi; Wang, Tao; Wang, Ya-Ming; Dong, Zhi-Ming (2014). "The first well-preserved coelophysoid theropod dinosaur from Asia". Zootaxa. 3873 (3): 233–49. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.3873.3.3. PMID   25544219 . Retrieved 2017-09-17.
  20. 1 2 3 Luo, Zhe-Xi; Crompton, Alfred W.; Sun, Ai-Lin (2001). "A New Mammaliaform from the Early Jurassic and Evolution of Mammalian Characteristics (Supplementary Information (Hadrocodium wui IVPP8275))". Science. 292 (5521): 1535–1540. Bibcode:2001Sci...292.1535L. doi:10.1126/science.1058476. PMID   11375489. S2CID   8738213 . Retrieved 20 April 2013.
  21. Luo, Zhe-Xi; Crompton, Alfred W.; Sun, Ai-Lin (2001). "A New Mammaliaform from the Early Jurassic and Evolution of Mammalian Characteristics" (PDF). Science. 292 (5521): 1535–1540. Bibcode:2001Sci...292.1535L. doi:10.1126/science.1058476. PMID   11375489. S2CID   8738213. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-08-20.
  22. 1 2 3 Cui, G. H. (1976). "Yunnania, a new tritylodont genus from Lufeng, Yunnan". Vertebrata PalAsiatica. 25: 1–7.
  23. Cui, G. H. (1986). "Yunnanodon, a replacement name for Yunnania Cui, 1976". Gu Jizhui Dongwu Yu Gu Renlei Vertebr. PalAsiatica. 24: 9.

Bibliography