Finding dinosaurs with super long necks

A new dinosaur named Qijianglong guokr (meaning Qijiang dragon) belongs to the Mamenchisaurids, a family of dinosaurs known for their very long necks, sometimes reaching half the body length.

Qijianglong dinosaur guokr.(Photo: sci-tech-today.com)

Qijianglong lived about 160 million years ago. Its neck and head vertebrae were found by Japanese, Chinese and Canadian scientists near Qijiang, Chongqing City, southern China.

Qijianglong is about 15m long. Its neck vertebrae are filled with air making the neck relatively light, compared to its large size.

The sci-news site quoted by scientist Tetsuto Miyashita said the discovery of Qijianglong guokr suggests that there may be many differences between Mamenchisaurids and between long-necked dinosaurs from different continents.

"Mamenchisaurids grow into different branches when other long-necked dinosaurs are extinct in Asia. The Mamenchisaurids don't move to other continents is still a mystery , " Miyashita said.