| Qijianglong Temporal range: Early Cretaceous, | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Clade: | Dinosauria |
| Clade: | Saurischia |
| Clade: | † Sauropodomorpha |
| Clade: | † Sauropoda |
| Family: | † Mamenchisauridae |
| Genus: | † Qijianglong Xing et al., 2015 |
| Type species | |
| Qijianglong guokr Xing et al., 2015 | |
Qijianglong is a genus of herbivorous mamenchisaurid sauropod dinosaur [1] from the Early Cretaceous of China. [2]
A vertebra of Qijianglong was first discovered in the early 1990s by farmer Cai Changming of Heba village, Sichuan, in his backyard. Work at a nearby construction site at Qijiang District uncovered a rich fossil quarry in 2006. Its excavation caused an examination of the earlier find which led to the discovery of a skeleton. In 2015, the type species Qijianglong guokr was named and described by Xing Lida (China University of Geosciences), Tetsuto Miyashita (University of Alberta), Zhang Jianping, Li Daqing, Ye Yong (Zigong Dinosaur Museum), Toru Sekiya (Fukui Prefectural Dinosaur Museum), Wang Fengping and Philip John Currie. The generic name combines the district Qijiang with Mandarin long, "dragon". The specific name guokr, "nutshell", is that of a Chinese scientific social network. [1]
The holotype QJGPM 1001 was found in a layer of the Suining Formation, which was seen as dating from the Late Jurassic but is now considered mid-Cretaceous (late Aptian) based on radiometric dating. [2] It consists of a partial skeleton with a skull. It includes the rear of the skull, a partial right lower jaw, a complete series of seventeen neck vertebrae, the first six back vertebrae, ribs, the probable tenth tail vertebra, a series of twenty-eight rear tail vertebrae, chevrons, the left pubic bone and two upper pedal phalanges. It likely represents a juvenile individual, large but immature. [1]
The holotype of Qijianglong was about fifteen meters long and had a long neck. The describing authors established several distinguishing traits among which four autapomorphies. On the lower braincase the processus basipterygoideus has the form of a plate, is oriented along the body axis, and has an additional boss parallel to the tubera basilaria. The neck vertebrae have rear joint processes, postzygapophyses that next to their normal facets show on the outside an additional finger-shaped extension, stiffening the neck in the horizontal plane but allowing vertical movement. The rear neck vertebrae have pneumatopores, pneumatic openings, in the depression between the diapophysis, the upper rib joint process, and the neural spine. The pubic bone has a concave front edge, curving so strongly that its lower end is more directed to the front than to below. [1]
Qijianglong was placed in the family Mamenchisauridae, in a relatively basal position but above Omeisaurus tianfuensis in the evolutionary tree. [1]
Mamenchisaurus is a genus of sauropod dinosaur known for their remarkably long necks which made up nearly half the total body length. Numerous species have been assigned to the genus; however, the validity of these assignments has been questioned. Fossils have been found in the Sichuan Basin and Yunnan Province in China. Several species from the Upper Shaximiao Formation, whose geologic age is uncertain, have been described. However, evidence suggests this formation to be no earlier than the Oxfordian stage of the Late Jurassic. M. sinocanadorum dates to the Oxfordian stage, and M. anyuensis to the Aptian stage of the Early Cretaceous. Most species were medium-large to large sauropods, measuring roughly 15 to 26 meters in length—possibly up to 35 meters (115 ft), based on two undescribed vertebrae.
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