The Year of the Dragon is off to an exciting paleontological start. Only a few weeks following Lunar New Year celebrations around the world, an international team of scientists have fully described a 240-million-year old aquatic Chinese reptile for the first time. With its impressively long neck with 32 separate neck vertebrae, Dinocephalosaurus orientalis resembles the mythological fire breathers and water beasts of ancient lore. The species is described in a study published February 23 in the journal Earth and Environmental Science: Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.
[Related: Bite marks on Triassic fossils show signs of bloody dino decapitation.]
Dinocephalosaurus lived in what is now China about 240 million years ago during the Triassic Period. It likely used its signature long neck to hunt smaller aquatic creatures. According to the study, it was well adapted to life in the ocean, due to its flippered limbs and some well-preserved fish found in its abdomen. While it may look like the more famous long-necked plesiosaurs, Dinocephalosaurus was not closely related to them. Plesiosaurs evolved around 40 million years later, but likely inspired the myth of the Loch Ness Monster.Â
The fossils were first discovered in Guizhou Province in southern China in 2003. The remains were not initially complete, but further excavations allowed paleontologists to find the more complete remains. Over 10 years, researchers studied the fossil at the Institute of Vertebrate Palaeontology and Palaeoanthropology in Beijing. The institute is part of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.Â
“This has been an international effort. Working together with colleagues from the United States of America, the United Kingdom and Europe, we used newly discovered specimens housed at the Chinese Academy of Sciences to build on our existing knowledge…
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