Wumengosaurus Temporal range: Anisian,
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Reptilia |
Superorder: | †Sauropterygia |
Clade: | †Eosauropterygia |
Genus: | †Wumengosaurus Jiang et al., 2008 |
Type species | |
†Wumengosaurus delicatomandibularis Jiang et al., 2008
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Other species | |
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Wumengosaurus is an extinct aquatic reptile from the Middle Triassic (late Anisian stage) Guanling Formation of Guizhou, southwestern China. It was originally described as a basal eosauropterygian and usually is recovered as such by phylogenetic analyses,[1][2][3] although one phylogeny has placed it as the sister taxon to Ichthyosauromorpha while refraining from a formal re-positioning.[4] It was a relatively small reptile, measuring 95.5–130.5 cm (3.13–4.28 ft) in total body length.[1]
In 2021, Qin et al. described an additional specimen from Guizhou (Panzhou District) as a new species of Wumengosaurus, W. rotundicarpus.[5]
In the 2023 description of Luopingosaurus, Xu et al. recovered Wumengosaurus as a derived pachypleurosaurid, as the sister taxon to the clade formed by Luopingosaurus and Honghesaurus. The results of their phylogenetic analyses are shown in the cladogram below:[6]