Another long-necked nothosaur, Lijiangosaurus enters the LRT
No surprises today
as long-necked Early to Middle Triassic Lijiangosaurus (Fig 1) enters the large reptile tree (LRT, 2342 taxa) alongside long-necked Middle Triassic Wangosaurus (Fig 1).
That’s also where Wang et al 2025 nested their new find.
Figure 1. Lijiangosaurus diagram here shown to scale alongside smaller Wangosaurus. Both are nothosaurs with small hands, not flippers.
” data-medium-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/lijiangosaurus-diagram588.jpg?w=144″ data-large-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/lijiangosaurus-diagram588.jpg?w=492″ class=”size-full wp-image-95355″ src=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/lijiangosaurus-diagram588.jpg” alt=”Figure 1. Lijiangosaurus diagram here shown to scale alongside smaller Wangosaurus. Both are nothosaurs with small hands, not flippers. ” width=”584″ height=”1217″ srcset=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/lijiangosaurus-diagram588.jpg?w=584&h=1217 584w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/lijiangosaurus-diagram588.jpg?w=72&h=150 72w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/lijiangosaurus-diagram588.jpg?w=144&h=300 144w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/lijiangosaurus-diagram588.jpg 588w” sizes=”(max-width: 584px) 100vw, 584px” />
Figure 1. Lijiangosaurus diagram here shown to scale alongside smaller Wangosaurus. Both are nothosaurs with small hands, not flippers.
From the abstract:
“Here, we report Lijiangosaurus yongshengensis gen. et sp. nov. from a previously unknown early Middle Triassic locality in southwestern China. This taxon represents the earliest known sauropterygian evolving an exceptionally long neck with 42 cervical vertebrae, and is identified as a nothosaur rather than the immediate ancestors of plesiosaurs. Our discovery demonstrates that extreme cervical elongation developing more than 30 cervical vertebrae emerged in sauropterygians prior to the rise of plesiosaurs and their pistosaur ancestors. Furthermore, Lijiangosaurus possesses a unique type of accessory intervertebral articulation compared with other reptiles, and we attribute this structure to reducing body undulation.
The Wang et al cladogram
(their figure 3) included too few taxa relative to the LRT, so some nodes match the LRT. Other parts of the Wang et al cladogram do not match the LRT. As a result several recovered ‘sister’ taxai n the Wang et al cladogram. are dissimilar.
Wang et al did not provide an image of Wangosaurus
so this image (Fig 1) is the first time the two can be seen side-by-side.
References
Wang et al (4 co-authors) 2025. Earliest long-necked sauropterygian Lijiangosaurus yongshengensis and plasticity of vertebral evolution in sauropterygian marine reptiles. Nature Communications Biology https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-025-08911-1
wiki/Wangosaurus
wiki/Lijiangosaurus
Source: https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/2025/11/21/another-long-necked-nothosaur-lijiangosaurus-enters-the-lrt/
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