page_title: Dinocephalosaurus
section_title: Panxian
hierarchical_section_title: Dinocephalosaurus / Discovery and naming / Panxian
caption_attribution_description: Location of Luoping County (pink) and Qujing Prefecture (yellow) within Yunnan province of China Map drawn in september 2007 using various sources, mainly&#160;: Yunnan province administrative regions GIS data: 1:1M, County level, 1990 Yunnan Counties map from www.hua2.com
context_page_description: Dinocephalosaurus is a genus of long necked, aquatic protorosaur that inhabited the Triassic seas of China. The genus contains the type and only known species, D. orientalis, which was named by Li in 2003. Unlike other long-necked protorosaurs, Dinocephalosaurus convergently evolved a long neck not through elongation of individual cervical vertebrae, but through the addition of cervical vertebrae that each have a moderate length. Like other tanystropheids, however, Dinocephalosaurus probably used its long neck to hunt for prey, utilizing a combination of suction, created by the expansion of the throat, and the fang-like teeth of the jaws to ensnare prey. It was probably a marine animal by necessity, as suggested by the poorly-ossified and paddle-like limbs which would have prevented it from going ashore.
  Specimens belonging to the genus were first discovered in a locality near Xinmin in Guizhou, China in 2002. At the same locality, which dates to 244 million years ago, other marine reptiles such as Mixosaurus, Keichousaurus, and Wumengosaurus have also been found.
context_section_description: The type specimen of Dinocephalosaurus was first discovered in 2002, during fieldwork conducted in Yangjuan Village, Xinmin District, Panxian County, Guizhou, China. It consists of a nearly-complete skull missing the left side of the jaw, as well as several associated cervical vertebrae. It was subsequently stored at the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP) in Beijing, China under the collection number IVPP V13767, and a research paper describing the specimen was authored by IVPP paleontologist Chun Li and published by Acta Geologica Sinica in December 2003.
  A second specimen discovered at the same locality represents a partially articulated skeleton that is only lacking the tail. Likewise stored at the IVPP, the specimen has the collection number IVPP V13898. The specimen was described in a brief correspondence authored by Li, Olivier Rieppel, and Michael LaBarbera that was published by Science in September 2004; a more detailed description was subsequently published by Rieppel, Li, Nicholas Fraser in a 2008 Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology paper.
  The Panxian locality, from where these specimens originated, is part of Member II of the Anisian (Middle Triassic) Guanling Formation, which was initially thought to be 230 million years old, but has most recently been dated to 244 ± 1.3 million years old based on uranium-lead dating.  Predominant deposits at this locality are composed of grey to dark grey marly limestone, as well as cherty limestone containing dolomite and bentonite beds. Dinocephalosaurus was specifically found in layer 90 of the Panxian deposits, a thin limestone layer which is traditionally assigned to the Upper Reptile Horizon (layers 87-90). Further below are the Middle Reptile (layers 81-85) and Lower Reptile (77-79) Horizons.
caption: Location of Luoping in Yunnan, China; Panxian is located in the neighboring Guizhou, to the east
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