London: Scottish scientists have recently publicised the discovery of a 240-million-year-old “Chinese dragon” fossil, which they describe as being “very strange.”
An international team from the National Museum of Scotland has discovered Dinocephalosaurus orientalis, a 5-meter-long aquatic reptile from China’s Triassic Period, 240 million years ago, in Guizhou Province.
The scientists said that, “With 32 separate neck vertebrae Dinocephalosaurus orientalis had an extraordinarily long neck that draws comparison with that of Tanystropheus hydroides, another strange marine reptile from the Middle Triassic of both Europe and China.”
“Both reptiles were of similar size and have several features of the skull in common, including a fish-trap type of dentition. However, Dinocephalosaurus is unique in possessing many more vertebrae both in the neck and in the torso, giving the animal a much more snake-like appearance,” officials added.
Scientists stated that, “The reptile was clearly very well adapted to an oceanic lifestyle, as indicated by the flippered limbs and exquisitely preserved fishes in its stomach region. Despite superficial similarities, Dinocephalosaurus was not closely related to the famous long-necked plesiosaurs that only evolved around 40 million years later and which inspired the myth of the Loch Ness Monster.”
According to reports, this reptile was first discovered in 2003. With the help of this latest discovery of more specimens, scientists have now been able to fully characterize the long-necked mysterious creature for the first time.
The keeper of Natural Sciences at National Museums Scotland, Dr. Nick Fraser stated that, “It is yet one more example of the weird and wonderful world of the Triassic that continues to baffle palaeontologists. We are certain that it will capture imaginations across the globe due to its striking appearance, reminiscent of the long and snake-like, mythical Chinese Dragon.”
After studying the fossil for ten years at the Institute of Vertebrate Palaeontology and Palaeoanthropology in Beijing, researchers from Scotland, Germany, the United States, and China made their announcement public.
Professor Li Chun from the Institute of Vertebrate Palaeontology and Palaeoanthropology, commented that, “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 of this animal.”
He further added to his statement that, “Among all of the extraordinary finds we have made in the Triassic of Guizhou Province, Dinocephalosaurus probably stands out as the most remarkable.”
A postdoctoral researcher based at the Stuttgart State Museum of Natural History, Dr. Stephan Spiekman, told “As an early-career researcher, it has been an incredible experience to contribute to these significant findings. We hope that our future research will help us understand more about the evolution of this group of animals, and particularly how the elongate neck functioned.”
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