New marine reptile fossil found in China's Yunnan

KUNMING -- Chinese paleontologists have discovered the fossil of a new marine reptile species, dating back 244 million years, in Luoping county, Southwest China's Yunnan province.

The species, named Luopingosaurus, is a lizard-like marine reptile. It is known as a pachypleurosaur with a long, pointed mouth, reaching more than half a meter in length.

The long snout, accounting for over half of its head, facilitated the reptile to catch prey as it could largely reduce resistance during chases in the water, said Shang Qinghua, a researcher from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology under the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

The discovery provided new insights into the early evolution of pachypleurosaur, Shang added.

According to the study, the reptile's forelegs had multiple phalanges, making its flippers more flexible when changing direction in the water. The discovery also represented the oldest fossil evidence of Sauropterygia with multiple phalanges.

The study also indicated that during the evolutionary process, the lateral grasping ability of pachypleurosaurs for small fish and other prey is gradually increasing, but the efficiency of swallowing after grasping is gradually decreasing.

The first named marine reptile discovered in China was also a pachypleurosaur, namely Keichousaurus, found in 1957.

The study was published in the journal Scientific Reports on Thursday.