A NEW SPECIES OF LARIOSAURUS

["Kazuo TAKAHASHI" <pantheon@kw.netlaputa.ne.jp>]

A NEW SPECIES OF LARIOSAURUS (SAUROPTERYGIA: NOTHOSAURIDAE)

FROM TRIASSIC OF GUIZHOU, SOUTHWEST CHINA

LI Jin-Ling, LIU Jun & RIEPPEL Olivier



VERTEBRATA PALASIATICA Vol.40 No.2  pp.114-126



Summary

 The first Triassic sauropterygian to be described from China was
keichousaurus hui (Young,

1958) found in Xingyi, Guizhou. Shingyisaurus unexpetus, another
sauropterygian found in

Xingyi, was referred to the Simosauridae by Young (1965). It was identified
as Nothosaurus

or a closely related genus, and the name Shingyisaurus unexpectus was
considered a nomen

dubium (Rieppel, 1998). Here we report a well-preserved specimen from
Xingyi, Guizhou

Prvince. It represents the first undoubted specimen and a new species of
Lariosaurus ever

found outside western Tethyan faunal province.



Nothosauridae Baur, 1889

Lariosaurus Curioni, 1847

Lariosaurus xingyiensis sp. nov.



Holotype An almost complete skeleton, institute of Vertebrate Paleontology
and

Paleoanthropology V 11866



Locality and horizon Xingyi, Guizhou Province, China; Zhuganpo Member of the
Falang

Formation.



Diagnosis A small-sized species of Lariosaurus with a slender skull, length
of preorbital region

about 40% of the skull length; rostral constrintion; temporal fenestra twice
the size of orbit;

maxilla extends backwards to a level below the 1/4 length of the
supratemporal fenestra;

parietal table narrow; ulna without distinctly broadened proximal head; five
ossifications

in carpus.



Etymology Referring to Xingyi City in which the fossil locality is situated.



TAKAHASHI ,KAZUO
http://www.NetLaputa.ne.jp/~pantheon/
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