Discoveries

March 15, 2024

Here Be Dragons

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It took two decades, but paleontologists finally uncovered the complete fossilized remains of a prehistoric “Chinese dragon,” CNN reported.

Named Dinocephalosaurus orientalis, the marine creature was a 16-foot-long reptile that swam around what is now China more than 240 million years ago.

In their paper, the research team explained that some of the dragon’s fossils were initially found in 2003 in southern China. Study author Li Chun – who found the first fossils – determined that it was a new species after discovering some bone fragments.

But the recent conclusion came after scientists studied five newer specimens over the years, including a fully articulated fossil that offered a “beautiful complete specimen from the tip of the nose right down to the tip of the tail,” according to co-author Nick Fraser.

“It’s curled around in this sort of figure of eight and … it’s very reminiscent of a Chinese dragon,” he noted.

Fraser and his team suggested that the D. orientalis was suited for marine environments: It had 32 vertebrae and a long neck that helped it catch fish. Researchers also found evidence of fish remains in the stomach region of one fossil, as well as flippered limbs.

The authors are still unclear about how the extinct animal used their neck, but added that it does resemble another ancient – and puzzling – marine reptile, Tanystropheus hydroides.

“The only thing that I can come up with is that they were feeding in the waters that had rocks, and perhaps crevices, in them,” said Fraser. “And they were using their long necks to probe and move into some of these crevices and maybe get prey that way.”

This story originally appeared in the March 15, 2024 newsletter, Vladimir the Determined.