The main skeletal fossils preserved of Wudingloong wui gen. et sp. nov. Photo: Courtesy of Chinese Academy of Sciences' Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology

A new type of sauropod dinosaur species has recently been discovered by Chinese scientists in Chuxiong Yi Autonomous Prefecture, Southwest China's Yunnan Province. The sauropod species existed around 200 million years ago during the Early Jurassic period, making it the earliest known dinosaur of its kind discovered in East Asia.

Wudingloong wui gen. et sp. nov., or "Wushi Wuding long," is the name of the newly discovered species. It has slender scapula, long fingers and smooth teeth enamel. According to the forelimb morphology documented in the discovered fossil, the project's lead You Hailu, a research fellow from the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, told the Global Times that the species was "likely a bipedal dinosaur."

The fossil of the dinosaur was perfectly preserved, revealing the species' cranial and forelimb bones as well as cervical vertebrae. Through phylogenetic analysis, researchers found that the species represents the earliest-diverging sauropod dinosaur currently known in East Asia. 

"This discovery pushes back the origin of dinosaur fauna for us [in China] to the earliest phase of the Jurassic period," You noted, adding that previously, the oldest known early-diverging sauropod dinosaurs in East Asia were mainly in the mid-Early Jurassic Lufeng dinosaur Formation, in Yunnan. 

"Discovered in Lufeng county, the Lufeng dinosaurs are a sort of ancestors of sauropod dinosaurs," paleontologist Ma Miao, told the Global Times. The Lufeng dinosaur formation is also a major sedimentary unit for understanding the evolution of the Early Jurassic sauropodomorph dinosaurs. Prior to the current discovery, another type of sauropod dinosaur species had been unearthed in the Lufeng, and was named Xingxiulong yueorum, sp. nov. In 2024, Lishulong wangi, also unearthed in the Lufeng, was identified by researchers as an early-diverging sauropod dinosaur belonging to the "Lufeng" family. 

You told the Global Times that by combining the current discovery of the Wudingloong wui gen. et sp. nov. with those previous finds, the research team is able to establish a "phylogenetic character matrix" that may provide a deeper understanding of the diversity and evolution patterns of dinosaurs discovered in Yunnan. 

The fossil of the Wudingloong wui gen. et sp. nov. was first discovered in 2020 within the Chuxiong's Wande township in Wuding county. After years of research, the latest discovery was recently published on the international journal Scientific Reports. 

"I hope our research will provide new evidence for understanding the origin and adaptive radiation of sauropod dinosaurs to the international research community," You noted.