The fossils of an "amazing dragon" rewrite the history of dinosaurs

Fossils unearthed on a hill in the northwest of the China is forcing scientists to rethink the story of a lineage of dinosaurs that produced the largest animals that walked the planet.

A group of scientists announced on Tuesday the discovery of "Lingwulong shenqi", an antecedent of the known group of herbivorous dinosaurs called sauropods. with long necks, long tails, small heads and legs like columns. The Lingwulong lived 174 million years ago during the Jurbadic.

His name means "Amazing Lingwu Dragon". He lived in a warm and humid environment, surrounded by lush vegetation of evergreens, ferns and other plants.

Scientists excavated bones of at least eight to ten specimens of Lingwulong, the largest of which measured about 17.5 meters long, said paleontologist Xing Xu, of the Chinese Academy of Sciences , who led the published study
in the journal Nature Communications

The Lingwulong represents the oldest advanced member of the sauropod lineage, since its anatomical characteristics distinguish it from primitive specimens that appeared tens of millions of years ago.

The discovery delays by about 15 million years the appearance of advanced sauropods, a lineage that will later include Jurbadic giants such as Diplodocus and Brontosaurus and Cretaceous as Argentinosaurus, Dreadnoughtus and Patagotitan, the largest animals "Previously, we thought that all these advanced sauropods were born 160 million years ago and have diversified rapidly to spread across the planet in a time window of perhaps 5 millions of years, "said Paul Upchurch. , paleontologist at University College London and co-author of the study.

"However, the discovery or the Lingwulong means that this badumption is incorrect and now we have to work with the idea that, in reality, this group and its main constituent lineages appeared earlier and more gradually", commented on Upchurch.

Reuters Agency