New information on Dianmeisaurus gracilis Shang & Li, 2015

摘要: Dianmeisaurus gracilis is restudied on the basis of a new specimen. It provides some new information, especially that on the skull roof, to the species. The most striking of those new characters include the snout (preorbital region) shorter than the orbit, the interorbital septum extremely narrow, the frontal with a sharp process at both ends, and the posterior margin of the skull roof deeply V-shaped. A phylogenetic analysis with new information confirms that Dianmeisaurus is the sister group of Diandongosaurus and that these two genera, together with those Chinese taxa (Majiashanosaurus, Dianopachysaurus, Keichousaurus, and Dawazisaurus), form a monophyletic clade which is more closely related to the Nothosauroidea than to a clade formed by the European pachypleurosaurs.