Guanlingsaurus liangae (Yin et al. 2000, Late Triassic, 10m, 33 feet long) was derived from a sister to Cymbospondylus and was itself a sister to the even larger Shastasaurus sikanniensis. The long, eel-like body, short flippers and small, long-snouted skull suggest an undulating swimming style. Two specimens are shown here: YGMIR SPC V3107 (Yin et al. 2000) and GNG dq-50 (Ji et al. 2013), which is considered a juvenile. The two skulls are close in morphology, but are not matches.
The skull is twice as wide as tall. The orbit is large. The snout is toothless and narrow. The nares can be seen dorsally. The premaxilla is interpreted differently here based on appearances and similarity to sister taxa.
Sander et al. 2011 lumped this specimen with Shastasaurus, but Guanlingsaurus is not related. |
