Newest Reseach in Zigong Dinosaur
The region of origin of the new sauropods was probably Asia, and the traditional "East Asian isolation" did not exist. Biopalaeogeography analysis shows that the origin area of neosauropod dinosaurs, the late evolutionary branch of sauropod dinosaurs, may be Asia and North America, and the origin area of Macronaria dinosaurs may be Asia and North America, and the age is early Middle Jurassic. At the same time, the branch system analysis also shows that the classification position of Dashu dragon is not only the earliest differentiated Squatosaurus, but also the earliest differentiated neosauropod dinosaurs. Therefore, it is speculated that the origin area of the neosauropod dinosaurs is likely to be Asia.
This study shows that at the turn of Mid-Late Jurassic (during the disintegration of Pangea), the major sauropod groups represented by Neosauropods may have completed their global distribution, so the traditional "East Asian isolation" did not exist. The regional and global radiation of different groups probably began in the late Early Jurassic to early Middle Jurassic.
It is known that Sauropoda is the largest land animal that ever lived on the earth, and its origin and early evolution have attracted much attention.
Based on the existing evidence, the diversity, differentiation and distribution of sauropods increased rapidly from the late Early Jurassic to the early Middle Jurassic along with the rapid radiation evolution of sauropods.
