Huangshanlong
"Huangshan dragon"
- Lived
- 175 to 162 million years ago, Middle Jurassic
- Diet
- Herbivore
- Group
- Sauropods, Mamenchisauridae
- Found in
- China
- Named by
- Huang et al. 2014
Where its fossils were found
The evidence
Today
170 million years ago
Habitat
It lived on land in eastern China during the Middle Jurassic. Anhuilong is another long-necked plant eater from the Hongqin Formation.
Field notes
About Huangshanlong
What it was like
Huangshanlong was a long-necked sauropod from the family of Mamenchisaurus. It is known from bones of a front leg.
Its world
It lived in the Middle Jurassic in what is now eastern China. Its bones come from the Hongqin Formation, where the sauropod Anhuilong also lived.
How it was found
Huang and colleagues named it in 2014.
Field gallery
More views of Huangshanlong
Scenes reconstructed from the available fossil evidence.
1 of 2
Lived alongside
Found in the same rock formations
A rock formation can hold fossils laid down millions of years apart, so not every animal here met Huangshanlong.
The evidence
The science behind Huangshanlong
Which parts of the picture come from its own bones, and which come from its relatives.
From its own fossils
- The known bones are an upper arm bone and the paired forearm bones from the right front leg.
- The upper arm bone twists outward toward the elbow, and the lower end of the ulna carries prominent ridges.
Borrowed from relatives
- The missing skull, neck, trunk and tail are restored from mamenchisaurids such as Omeisaurus and Mamenchisaurus.
- A family-tree analysis grouped it with Anhuilong and Omeisaurus.
Still unknown
- Its neck length and total body size.
- The shape of its head.
- Its skin color.
Discovery timeline
- 2014Named itHuang et al.
- 2023Close relativeMoore et al.
Key papers
The research behind what we know of Huangshanlong
Named it
Named Huangshanlong from front-leg bones whose shape and proportions link it to mamenchisaurids.
A new sauropod dinosaur from the Middle Jurassic of Huangshan, Anhui Province. Vertebrata PalAsiatica 52: 390-400
No link available
Close relative
Reexamined Mamenchisaurus and explored how air-filled neck bones and long neck ribs supported exceptionally long necks in its family.
Re-assessment of the Late Jurassic eusauropod Mamenchisaurus sinocanadorum Russell and Zheng, 1993, and the evolution of exceptionally long necks in mamenchisaurids. Journal of Systematic Palaeontology 21
Read the paper : Re-assessment of the Late Jurassic eusauropod Mamenchisaurus sinocanadorum Russell and Zheng, 1993, and the evolution of exceptionally long necks in mamenchisaurids (opens in a new tab)
Close relatives
Other members of Mamenchisauridae
Sources: Wikidata