Qijianglong ("the dragon of Qijiang" in Chinese) lived 160 million years ago, during the late Jurassic . And as a good sauropod, it had a huge neck , although even larger than what paleontologists are used to seeing. It even seems to defy the laws of physics , since it occupies half of your body, when it is normal for it to cover a third.
The new dinosaur, whose remains have been discovered in China by researchers at the University of Alberta, belongs to the group of mamenquisaurs, characterized by their extensive necks.
What makes the Qijiang dragon special is that its vertebrae are filled with air, which greatly lightened its weight. In addition, the joints between the vertebrae are designed to allow mostly up-and-down movements (like a crane), not sideways.
The finding shows that there could also be big differences between mamenchisaurs , although this lineage only lived in Asia. Some kind of physical barrier, like the sea, perhaps blocked the mamenquisaurs and prevented them from evolving outside of China.
Photo: Xing Lida
