Lishulong

Lishulong is a genus of sauropodiform dinosaur from the Early Jurassic Lufeng Formation of China. The type and only species is Lishulong wangi.

Discovery and naming

The holotype specimen, LFGT-ZLJ0011, was discovered in 2007 in Jiudu Village in Konglongshan Town, Lufeng County, Yunnan Province, China, in sediments belonging to the Shawan Member of the Lufeng Formation. It consists of a cranium, mandible, and nine cervical vertebrae. Parts of the posterior skeleton were also discovered but were lost during excavation. Following the specimen's collection and preparation, it was sent to Lufeng World Dinosaur Valley to be displayed. The type locality is close to where the fossils of the coelophysoid theropod Panguraptor were discovered.
The sauropodomorph remains were described as belonging to a new genus and species of dinosaur in 2024. The generic name, Lishulong, combines the Mandarin Chinese words 栗樹/栗树—meaning "chestnut tree"—after the name of the type locality, with 龍/龙, meaning "dragon". The specific name, wangi, honors Wang Zheng-Ju, the discoverer of Lufengpithecus, for his contribution to vertebrate paleontology in Lufeng.

Description

At long, the skull of Lishulong is larger than any other sauropodomorph from the Lufeng Formation. The cervical vertebrae are very large and elongated; the centrum of the first preserved cervical vertebra is long, and the centrum of the last preserved cervical vertebra is long. The related Yunnanosaurus youngi also preserves the same bones in the neck; its axis is slightly smaller, at long, and its tenth cervical is long. Y. youngi has been estimated to have a body length of around.

Classification

Zhang et al. included Lishulong in a phylogenetic analysis and found it to be a member of the Sauropodiformes, as the sister taxon to Yunnanosaurus.