Fulengia
Temporal range: Early Jurassic,
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Dinosauria
Clade: Saurischia
Clade: †Sauropodomorpha
Clade: †Massopoda
Genus: †Fulengia
Carroll and Galton, 1977
Species:
†F. youngi
Binomial name
†Fulengia youngi
Carroll and Galton, 1977

Fulengia is a dubious genus of basal sauropodomorph dinosaur from the Early Jurassic Lufeng Formation of China.[1]

The type species, F. youngi, was described by Carroll and Galton in 1977.[2] It is a nomen dubium, and may be the same animal as Lufengosaurus (from which it is anagramized). It was originally thought to be a lizard.

History

The holotype of Fulengia (CUP 2037), a mineralised lump containing a small skull, just under 4 centimetres (1.6 in) long, a single vertebra, and a jumble of unidentifiable bones, was originally catalogued as a juvenile specimen of Yunnanosaurus huangi by Simmons in 1965,[3] who reckoned they were "coprolitic in origin", but there is no way to accurately prove this.[3] Twelve years later Carroll and Galton reclassified it as a lizard of Late Triassic age and named the species Fulengia youngi.[2]

The holotype remains, and two other nodules (CUP 2038a and CUP 2038b)[4] from the same site were also found during reinspection of the Catholic University of Peking collections in 1989.[5] In 1989, Evans and Milner classified Fulengia as an Early Jurassic sauropodomorph.[5]

Description

It was around 6.2 metres (20 ft) long and around 600 kilograms (1,300 lb) in weight when fully grown.[6] Its height was unknown,[6] and it had a skull size of around 4 centimetres (1.6 in) long.[3]

References

  1. ↑ "48.3 Yunnan, People's Republic of China; 2. Dark Red Beds of the Lower Lufeng Series," in Weishampel, et al. (2004). Page 534.
  2. 1 2 Carroll, R.L. and Galton, P.M. (1977) "A 'modern' lizard from the Upper Triassic of China".
  3. 1 2 3 Simmons, D.J. (1965) "The non-therapsid reptiles of the Lufeng Basin, Yunnan, China".
  4. ↑ R. L. Carroll. 1988. Vertebrate Paleontology and Evolution 1-698
  5. 1 2 S.E. Evans and A.R. Milner (1989) "Fulengia, a supposed early lizard reinterpreted as a prosauropod dinosaur".
  6. 1 2 Yang, Z. (1982b). On a new genus of dinosaur from Lufeng, Yunnan. Selected works of Yang, Z. p. 38-42. Science Press, Beijing (中文).
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