论文标题：A new Middle Jurassic diplodocoid suggests an earlier dispersal and diversification of sauropod dinosaurs

期刊：Nature Communications

作者：Xing Xu et al

发表时间： 2018/07/24

数字识别码：10.1038/s41467-018-05128-1

原文链接：https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-05128-1?utm_source=Other_website&utm_medium=Website_links&utm_content=RenLi-Nature-Nature_Comms-Palaeontology-China&utm_campaign=NATCOMMS_USG_JRCN_RL_dinosaur_sciencenet_article_1st_Aug

微信链接：https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/UYPaE4Ch2WxNWNoBL22MAQ

根据《自然-通讯》发表的一篇论文A new Middle Jurassic diplodocoid suggests an earlier dispersal and diversification of sauropod dinosaurs，梁龙类恐龙曾广泛分布在盘古大陆上。该研究报告了一种来自中国中侏罗世早期（大约1.74亿年前）的梁龙类新种恐龙，挑战了关于梁龙类恐龙和其它新蜥脚类恐龙的起源和扩散的传统观点。

图1：神奇灵武龙化石的现场发掘和测量，右图测量的是灵武龙的肩胛骨。图源：Xu Xing

蜥脚类恐龙是长颈植食恐龙，是地球上身体最长、体型最大的陆地动物之一。人们一直认为新蜥脚类恐龙——蜥脚类恐龙晚期演化分支——在盘古大陆解体期间发生分化，在东亚与其他大陆隔离之前尚未扩散到东亚。

图2：神奇灵武龙的骨骼遗骸和骨架重建。图源：Xu et al.

中国科学院古脊椎动物与古人类研究所的徐星及其同事从中国灵武地区发掘出了一种以前未知的梁龙类新种的多具骨架，并将该恐龙命名为Lingwulong shenqi（字面意思是“神奇灵武龙”）。这些化石的历史可以追溯到大约1.74亿年前，使这个物种成为已知最早的新蜥脚类恐龙。

图3：神奇灵武龙的艺术呈现。图源：Zhang Zongda

对这一新物种进行演化和生物地理分析的结果表明，在中侏罗世（大约1.74亿至1.63亿年前），新蜥脚类恐龙已经呈现出多样化并且分布广泛，它们并非像此前认为的那样在向晚侏罗世（1.63亿至1.45亿年前）过渡时期迅速占据主导地位。此外，主要的蜥脚类亚类群可能起源于早侏罗世。

摘要：The fragmentation of the supercontinent Pangaea has been suggested to have had a profound impact on Mesozoic terrestrial vertebrate distributions. One current paradigm is that geographic isolation produced an endemic biota in East Asia during the Jurassic, while simultaneously preventing diplodocoid sauropod dinosaurs and several other tetrapod groups from reaching this region. Here we report the discovery of the earliest diplodocoid, and the first from East Asia, to our knowledge, based on fossil material comprising multiple individuals and most parts of the skeleton of an early Middle Jurassic dicraeosaurid. The new discovery challenges conventional biogeographical ideas, and suggests that dispersal into East Asia occurred much earlier than expected. Moreover, the age of this new taxon indicates that many advanced sauropod lineages originated at least 15 million years earlier than previously realised, achieving a global distribution while Pangaea was still a coherent landmass.

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（来源：科学网）