[D] Liubangosaurus hei [sG] [T]
Describer
Mo, Xu, & Buffetaut 2010
Time
Cretaceous Early Aptian Albian
Classification
Saurischia Sauropodomorpha Sauropoda [Eusauropoda]
Diet
Herbivore
Fossilsite
Liubang site, Fusui (IVPP), which is in a Cretaceous fluvial-lacustrine mudstone/sandstone in the Napai Formation, Guangxi Province, China
Info
Abstract
A new sauropod dinosaur, Liubangosaurus hei gen. et sp. nov., is erected based on a specimen represented by five articulated middle-caudal dorsal vertebrae, which was discovered in the Lower Cretaceous Napai Formation of Guangxi Province, southern China. This new taxon is diagnosed by a unique combination of derived features: prezygapophysis closely contacts with parapophysis, with the prdl and prpl absent; presence of cavity on the dorsal surface of the diapophysis; neural spine very low, with its distal end level with that of diapophysis; distal end of the neural spine strongly expanded laterally to form a platform; marked fossa formed between the infradiapophyseal lamina and the parapophysis; broad, flat area of featureless bone on lateral surface of neural arch; vertically directed infradiapophyseal lamina expands or bifurcates ventrally to form a inverted “Y”; highly positioned parapophyses large and tear-drop in shape. The discovery of this new taxon increases the diversity of sauropods in China during the Early Cretaceous.
Etymology
Genus name refers to the village where the fossil was found, the species name refers to professor He Xinlu
Type specimen
NHMG 8152, a set of vertebrae (five dorsal vertebrae)