The earliest reptile discovered and named in China

The earliest reptile discovered, studied and named in China is Guizhou Dragon.

Guizhou dragon is the earliest Triassic marine reptile discovered, studied and named in China, and it is also the first time that primitive pterosaurs were discovered in Asia.

Expanding knowledge: Guizhou dragon is the most primitive reptile on the earth, amphibious in coastal environment. It belongs to lizards. Born in the Mesozoic Middle Triassic, it has been 2.43 ~ 2.5438+0 billion years. Guizhou Dragon Fossil was discovered in Guizhou Province, China in 1950s, so it was named Guizhou Dragon. It is characterized by a long neck, a nearly triangular head, big round eyes, slender limbs, slightly thicker forelimbs than hind limbs and shorter claws, and its body shape is similar to that of modern reptile lizards. Its body length is 10-30cm. Although small, it is the ancestor of the dragon. 1May 2, 9951Sunday, Guangming Daily reported on the front page with the eye-catching title "Rare and Important Scientific Discovery in the World, Identification of Guizhou Dragon Fossil", which aroused strong repercussions in the society. Many TV stations, radio stations and newspapers at home and abroad are scrambling to report a lot from different angles. As early as May 1957, Hu Chengzhi, a Chinese geological museum, discovered this Yunnan-Guizhou animal fossil in Lvyin Village, Ding Xiao Town, our city. After research by Professor Yang, director of the Institute of vertebrate paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, it was named "Guizhou Dragon Guizhou Longhui". Since then, domestic researchers have collected a large number of Guizhou dragon fossils in the same area, but many fish fossils have also been found, which have been named as "Oriental rib scale fish", "Guizhou Chinese crocodile" and "Xingyi Asian scale tooth fish". Nearly a thousand arowana fossils are now preserved in the relevant departments of the state and city. 1in late April, 1995, 226 of them were identified as national precious cultural relics by experts of Chinese Academy of Sciences, including first-class dragon fossils 17, second-class dragons 35 and third-class dragons 1 12. 62 second-and third-grade fish fossils. On May 2, the same year, after the front page report of KLOC-0/Guangming Daily, domestic and foreign radio, television and newspapers also reported the Guizhou Dragon Fauna, which caused a sensation at home and abroad.