近日，阿根廷国立拉里奥哈大学Sebastián Rocher团队研究了来自安第斯山脉新发现的上三叠世盆地的长颈早期恐龙。相关论文发表在2025年10月15日出版的《自然》杂志上。

晚三叠世时期（约2.37-2.01亿年前），盘古大陆的陆地生态系统经历了剧烈变革，促使哺乳动物型类、鳄形类和恐龙类崛起并多样化。尽管南美洲的卡尼期沉积岩层为理解这些支系的早期演化提供了重要证据，但关键发现始终局限于阿根廷的伊斯瓜拉斯托-维亚乌尼翁盆地与巴西的巴拉那盆地。研究组报道了在阿根廷西北部新识别的北普科迪勒拉盆地发现的卡尼期四足动物群。

该盆地圣多明各沟遗址发现的化石包括：早期蜥脚型类新属种——贾根瓦伊拉库尔索龙的近完整骨架，以及晚卡尼期动物群的典型组成成分，如超颌蜥类喙头蜥、圆顶螺齿兽科戈姆弗顿索克亚科犬齿兽类与坚蜥目。与普遍体型较小、短颈的卡尼期同类相比，瓦伊拉库尔索龙体型更大，并显现出颈椎初步延长的特征，在已知卡尼期与诺利期蜥脚型类之间呈现出体型与颈长演化的过渡形态。这一发现为蜥脚型类早期演化中体型增大与颈部伸长的现象提供了最古老的证据之一。

附：英文原文

Title: A long-necked early dinosaur from a newly discovered Upper Triassic basin in the Andes

Author: Hechenleitner, E. Martn, Martinelli, Agustn G., Rocher, Sebastin, Fiorelli, Lucas E., Juarez, Malena, Taborda, Jeremas R. A., Desojo, Julia B.

Issue&Volume: 2025-10-15

Abstract: During the Late Triassic epoch (237–201 million years ago), the terrestrial ecosystems of Pangaea underwent drastic changes1,2 that led to the rise and diversification of mammaliaforms3, crocodylomorphs4 and dinosaurs5. Although the Carnian sedimentary rocks of South America provided much of the available evidence for understanding the early evolution of these clades, key discoveries have remained restricted to the Ischigualasto-Villa Unión6,7 and Paraná basins8 in Argentina and Brazil, respectively. Here we report a Carnian tetrapod assemblage from the previously unrecognized Northern Precordillera Basin in northwestern Argentina. Discoveries at this basin, in the Quebrada Santo Domingo site, include a nearly complete skeleton of the early sauropodomorph Huayracursor jaguensis gen. et sp. nov., and typical components of Late Carnian faunas, such as hyperodapedontine rhynchosaurs, gomphodontosuchine traversodontid cynodonts, and aetosaurs. Compared to its generally small and short-necked Carnian counterparts9,10, Huayracursor is larger and exhibits an incipient elongation of its cervical vertebrae, representing an intermediate condition for size and cervical elongation between known Carnian and Norian sauropodomorphs11. This discovery provides one of the oldest pieces of evidence of increased body mass and neck elongation in early Sauropodomorpha.

DOI: 10.1038/s41586-025-09634-3

Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09634-3