A Triassic Aquatic Protorosaur with an Extremely Long Neck

24 September 2004

journal article
research article
Published by American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Science

Vol. 305 (5692) , 1931
https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1100498

Abstract

By Middle Triassic time, a number of reptile lineages had diversified in shallow epicontinental seas and intraplatform basins along the margins of parts of Pangea, including the giraffe-necked protorosaurid reptile Tanystropheus from the Western Tethys (Europe and the Middle East), which grew to ~5 to 6 m long. Here we report another long-necked fossil, Dinocephalosaurus , from southwestern China, recently collected in Middle Triassic marine deposits ~230 million years old. This taxon represents unambiguous evidence for a fully aquatic protorosaur. Its extremely elongated neck is explained as an adaptation for aquatic life, perhaps for an increase in feeding efficiency.

Keywords

This publication has 3 references indexed in Scilit:

First Record of Protorosaurid Reptile (Order Protorosauria) from the Middle Triassic of China
Acta Geologica Sinica - English Edition, 2003
Extreme morphological and ecological homoplasy in tropical salamanders
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Neck and neck
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