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2023
Journal article
Emergence and ecological transition of the Mesozoic marine reptiles: Evidence from the Early Triassic Chaohu and the Middle Triassic Xingyi Faunas
Two major evolutionary events in the early history of Mesozoic marine reptiles have been recorded in the Triassic of China. The first event evidenced by the Early Triassic Chaohu Fauna was the emergence of new marine communities and their subsequent radiation in the Spathian Subage of the late Olenekian (Early...Jiang, Da-yong ; Zhou, Min ; Motani, Ryosuke ; Tintori, Andrea ; Fraser, Nicholas C …
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2023
Journal article
A new long‐necked archosauromorph from the Guanling Formation (Anisian, Middle Triassic) of southwestern China and its implications for neck evolution in tanystropheids
A long neck is an evolutionary innovation convergently appearing in multiple tetrapod lineages, including groups of plesiosaurs, non-archosauriform archosauromorphs, turtles, sauropodomorphs, birds, and mammals. Among all tetrapods both extant and extinct, two Triassic archosauromorphs, Tanystropheus and Dinocephalosaurus, have necks that are particularly elongated relative to the lengths of their trunks....Wang, Wei ; Spiekman, Stephan N F ; Zhao, Lijun ; Rieppel, Olivier ; Scheyer, Torsten M …
Triassic archosauromorphs, Dinocephalosaurus, tetrapods, evolution, and Tanystropheus
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2020
Journal article
The cranial morphology of Tanystropheus hydroides (Tanystropheidae, Archosauromorpha) as revealed by synchrotron microtomography
The postcranial morphology of the extremely long-necked Tanystropheus hydroides is well-known, but observations of skull morphology were previously limited due to compression of the known specimens. Here we provide a detailed description of the skull of PIMUZ T 2790, including a partial endocast and endosseous labyrinth, based on synchrotron microtomographic... -
2020
Journal article
Aquatic habits and niche partitioning in the extraordinarily long-necked Triassic reptile Tanystropheus
Tanystropheus longobardicus is one of the most remarkable and iconic Triassic reptiles. Mainly known from the Middle Triassic conservation Lagerstätte of Monte San Giorgio on the Swiss-Italian border, it is characterized by an extraordinarily long and stiffened neck that is almost three times the length of the trunk, despite being... -
Journal article
The first Triassic vertebrate fossils from Myanmar: Pachypleurosaurs in a marine limestone
As ecosystems recovered from the end-Permian extinction, many new animal groups proliferated in the ensuing Triassic. Among these were the sauropterygians, reptiles that evolved from terrestrial ancestors and transitioned to a marine environment. The first sauropterygians were small, marine-adapted taxa such as pachypleurosaurs, which are known from Middle–Late Triassic deposits,...San, Khaing Khaing ; Fraser, Nicholas C ; Foffa, Davide ; Rieppel, Olivier ; Brusatte, Stephen L
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2008
Journal article
The skeletal anatomy of the Triassic protorosaur Dinocephalosaurus orientalis Li, from the Middle Triassic of Guizhou Province, southern China
The first protorosaur from the Middle Triassic of China, Dinocephalosaurus orientalis Li is known from two specimens: the holotype (an isolated skull in association with the first three cervical vertebrae), and a referred specimen (an almost complete, associated and partially articulated specimen lacking the tail). This material is here described...Rieppel, Olivier ; Li, Chun ; Fraser, Nicholas C
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2011
Journal article
New information on the protorosaurian reptile Macrocnemus fuyuanensis, Li et al., 2007, from the Middle/Upper Triassic of Yunnan, China
A new specimen of the protorosaur Macrocnemus fuyuanensis, from the Zhuganpo Member of the Falang Formation at Fuyuan (Yunnan Province, southwestern China), is described and compared with Macrocnemus bassanii. The new specimen is the first in the genus Macrocnemus that clearly shows details of the preorbital region of the skull....Jiang, Da-Yong ; Rieppel, Olivier ; Fraser, Nicholas C ; Motani, Ryosuke ; Hao, Wei-Cheng …
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2010
Journal article
Tanystropheus cf. T. longobardicus from the Early Late Triassic of Guizhou Province, Southwestern China
The protorosaur Tanystropheus longobardicus is well known from the Middle Triassic of alpine Europe. It has been described on the basis of a number of specimens that apparently range from juvenile to adult. The largest specimens have a total body length of approximately 3 m. Here we report on the...Fraser, Nicholas C ; Rieppel, Olivier ; Jiang, Da-Yong ; Hao, Wei-Cheng ; Motani, Ryosuke …
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2018
Journal article
A Triassic stem turtle with an edentulous beak
The early evolution of turtles continues to be a contentious issue in vertebrate palaeontology. Recent reports have suggested that they are diapsids1,2,3,4,5,6, but the position of turtles within Diapsida is controversial 7,8,9,10,11,12 and the sequence of acquisition of turtle synapomorphies remains unclear1,2,3. Here we describe a Triassic turtle from China...Li, Chun ; Fraser, Nicholas C ; Rieppel, Olivier ; Wu, Xiao-Chun
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2017
Journal article
Viviparity in a Triassic marine archosauromorph reptile
Eggs or embryos have been reported in various groups of fossil reptiles, where viviparity is a common mode of reproduction in aquatic taxa such as the ichthyopterygians, some groups of sauropterygians, mosasauroids, some taxa of choristoderans and certain protorosaurs. Here, we describe a complete embryo of a marine protorosaur, based...Chun, Li ; Rieppel, Olivier ; Fraser, Nicholas C