Rapid neck elongation in Sauropterygia (Reptilia: Diapsida) revealed by a new basal pachypleurosaur from the Lower Triassic of China.

Autor: Liu QL; Hubei Key Laboratory of Paleontology and Geological Environment Evolution, Wuhan Centre of China Geological Survey, Wuhan, 430023, P. R. China.; State Key Laboratory of Biogeology and Environmental Geology, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, Hubei, 430078, P. R. China., Cheng L; Hubei Key Laboratory of Paleontology and Geological Environment Evolution, Wuhan Centre of China Geological Survey, Wuhan, 430023, P. R. China. chengl@mail.cgs.gov.cn., Stubbs TL; School of Earth Sciences, Life Sciences Building, Tyndall Avenue, University of Bristol, Bristol, BS8 1TQ, UK.; School of Life, Health and Chemical Sciences, The Open University, Milton Keynes, UK., Moon BC; School of Earth Sciences, Life Sciences Building, Tyndall Avenue, University of Bristol, Bristol, BS8 1TQ, UK., Benton MJ; School of Earth Sciences, Life Sciences Building, Tyndall Avenue, University of Bristol, Bristol, BS8 1TQ, UK., Yan CB; Hubei Key Laboratory of Paleontology and Geological Environment Evolution, Wuhan Centre of China Geological Survey, Wuhan, 430023, P. R. China., Tian L; State Key Laboratory of Biogeology and Environmental Geology, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, Hubei, 430078, P. R. China. tianlibgeg@cug.edu.cn.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: BMC ecology and evolution [BMC Ecol Evol] 2023 Aug 31; Vol. 23 (1), pp. 44. Date of Electronic Publication: 2023 Aug 31.
DOI: 10.1186/s12862-023-02150-w
Abstrakt: Neck elongation has appeared independently in several tetrapod groups, including giraffes and sauropod dinosaurs on land, birds and pterosaurs in the air, and sauropterygians (plesiosaurs and relatives) in the oceans. Long necks arose in Early Triassic sauropterygians, but the nature and rate of that elongation has not been documented. Here, we report a new species of pachypleurosaurid sauropterygian, Chusaurus xiangensis gen. et sp. nov., based on two new specimens from the Early Triassic Nanzhang-Yuan'an Fauna in the South China Block. The new species shows key features of its Middle Triassic relatives, but has a relatively short neck, measuring 0.48 of the trunk length, compared to > 0.8 from the Middle Triassic onwards. Comparative phylogenetic analysis shows that neck elongation occurred rapidly in all Triassic eosauropterygian lineages, probably driven by feeding pressure in a time of rapid re-establishment of new kinds of marine ecosystems.
(© 2023. BioMed Central Ltd., part of Springer Nature.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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