Buffetaut E, Suteethorn V, Cuny G, Tong H, Le Loeuff J, Khansubha S, Jongautchariyakul S
Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris, France.
Nature. 2000 Sep 7;407(6800):72-4. doi: 10.1038/35024060.
Sauropods were a very successful group of dinosaurs during the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods, but their earlier history is poorly known. Until now, the earliest reported sauropod bones were from the Early Jurassic, and the only tentative evidence of earlier sauropods was in the form of controversial footprints. Here we report the discovery of an incomplete sauropod skeleton from the Late Triassic period of Thailand, which provides the first osteological evidence of pre-Jurassic sauropods. This dinosaur is markedly different from prosauropods and substantiates theoretical predictions that there was a fairly long period of sauropod evolution during the Triassic.
蜥脚类恐龙在侏罗纪和白垩纪时期是非常成功的恐龙群体，但它们早期的历史却鲜为人知。直到现在，最早报道的蜥脚类恐龙骨骼来自早侏罗世，而早期蜥脚类恐龙的唯一初步证据是有争议的脚印形式。在此，我们报告在泰国晚三叠世发现了一具不完整的蜥脚类恐龙骨架，这提供了侏罗纪之前蜥脚类恐龙的首个骨骼学证据。这种恐龙与原蜥脚类恐龙明显不同，并证实了关于三叠纪期间蜥脚类恐龙有相当长进化时期的理论预测。
