| Lingwulong | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Skeletal reconstruction and exemplar skeletal remains ofL. shenqi | |
Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Clade: | Dinosauria |
| Clade: | Saurischia |
| Clade: | †Sauropodomorpha |
| Clade: | †Sauropoda |
| Superfamily: | †Diplodocoidea |
| Genus: | †Lingwulong Xuet al.,2018 |
| Species: | †L. shenqi |
| Binomial name | |
| †Lingwulong shenqi Xuet al., 2018 | |
Lingwulong is a genus ofdiplodocoidsauropoddinosaur from theMiddle Jurassic of what is nowLingwu,Yinchuan,Ningxia, China. Thetype and only species isL. shenqi, known from several partial skeletons. It is one of the earliestneosauropods ever discovered, as well as the only definitivediplodocoid from east Asia.[1]
In 2004,sheep herder Ma Yun found dinosaur bones, notifying local administrators Yang Huozhu and Liu Hongan. In the spring of 2005 these showed the fossils to dinosaur expertXu Xing who sent out a team to investigate the find. From 2005 onwards several quarries ware excavated atCiyaopu, nearLingwu, inNingxia. The remains were discovered of about seven to ten sauropod skeletons. The excavations and the subsequent preparation were carried out by Wang Haijun, Xiang Lishi, He Sicai, Cao Renfang, Tang Zhilu and Tao Yu.[1]
In 2018, Xu Xing, Paul Upchurch, Philip D. Mannion, Paul M. Barrett, Omar R. Regalado-Fernandez, Mo Jinyou, Ma Jinfu and Liu Hongan named and described thetype speciesLingwulong shenqi. The generic name combines a reference to Lingwu with the Mandarinlong, "dragon". Thespecific nameshenqi (神奇) means "amazing" or "magical" in Mandarin, reflecting the unexpected appearance of a member of theDicraeosauridae in East Asia, a group never before identified in the region.[1]
Theholotype,LM V001a, consists of the rear of a skull associated with a series of dentary teeth found in their original position. It is part of the collection of theLingwu Museum. Theparatype, LGP V001b, is a partial skeleton lacking the skull. It contains the rear vertebrae of the back, the sacrum, the pelvis, the first tail vertebra and elements of the right hindlimb. Paratype and holotype possibly represent a single individual. The paratype is displayed in theLingwu Geopark.[1]
Several specimens have been referred to the species. IVPP V23704 is a series of twenty-nine dentary teeth. LGP V002 is a partial skeleton including vertebrae of the back and tail, the shoulder girdle, and elements of the forelimbs and pelvis. LGP V003 is a partial skeleton containing a series of vertebrae including dorsals, sacrals and the first two caudals, and both ilia. LGP V004 consists of a front neck vertebra, a front back vertebra and a right shinbone of a small individual. LGP V005 is a partial skeleton containing the sacrum, the pelvis and a series of twenty-five front and middle tail vertebrae. LGP V006 contains neck vertebrae, the shoulder girdle and forelimb elements. Additionally numerous disarticulated bones from the quarries were referred.[1]
Lingwulong's remains belong to 7 to 10 individuals at different ontogenetic stages, and even include skull bones. Overall, nearly the whole skeletal anatomy is known.[1]
Autapomorphies (unique traits) that distinguishLingwulong from other diplodocoids include highly elaborated ornamentation along the upper margin of the orbital area, occipital condyle with transversely wide articular surface and anterior dorsal vertebrae with slightly twisted metapophyses presenting a sub-circular pseudofacet on their tip.[1]
Some traits, such as morphology of cervical vertebrae metapophyses look intermediate between the derived dicraeosaurids condition and the plesiomorphic condition spread amongflagellicaudatans. Unlike most other diplodocoids, which have square-shaped snouts in dorsal view,Lingwulong had a U-shaped snout.[1]
Simplified cladogram of Flagellicaudata after Xu and colleagues (2018) is shown below:[1]
In their 2025 phylogenetic analyses, Mannion and Moore recoveredLingwulong as a sister taxon ofCetiosauriscus, being either outside the clade Flagellicaudata, which contains theDiplodocidae andDicraeosauridae, or within Diplodocidae.[2]
Lingwulong has been considered the earliest knownneosauropod and the oldest known diplodocoid.[1] Prior to its discovery, the oldest known possible diplodocoids included "Cetiosaurus"glymptonensis from the late Bathonian andCetiosauriscus stewarti from theCallovian, both from the United Kingdom.[3] At the time ofLingwulong's naming, it was regarded as having been found in theYanan Formation.[1] At the time, the age of the Yanan Formation was poorly understood, but was considered highly unlikely to be older than the lateToarcian or younger than theBajocian, yielding a midpoint age estimate of 174.15 Ma forLingwulong.[3] Subsequent research on the Yanan Formation dated it more precisely asAalenian in age, largely between 174.0 and 171.7 Ma.[4] However, the Lingwu dinosaur fauna has been argued to have actually come from theZhiluo Formation,[5] which would makeLingwulong substantially younger,Bathonian to earlyOxfordian in age.[6]
Diplodocoids were long thought to have been absent from East Asia due to the presence of theTurgai Sea, and the East Asian Isolation Hypothesis was used to explain the presence ofmamenchisaurids in East Asia but not elsewhere in the world. The discovery ofLingwulong casts doubt on these paleobiogeographical assumptions by showing thatdiplodocoids were present in East Asia during the Jurassic.[1]
