British and Chinese researchers have confirmed that fossils found in China are from an entirely¹ new species of dinosaur² that belonged to the same family as the iconic extinct giants diplodocus and brontosaurus.

经中英研究人员确认，在中国发现的化石是一种全新的恐龙，与著名的梁龙、雷龙同属一个大家族。

The fossils were first discovered in 2004 by a farmer in Lingwu, Ningxia Hui autonomous³ region. Since then, an excavation⁴ led by Xu Xing, a paleontologist from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, has turned up whole or partial skeletons from between seven to 10 individual dinosaurs⁵.

这些化石于2004年在宁夏回族自治区的灵武市被一位农民发现。从那以后，中国科学院古生物学者徐星所带领的挖掘团队又发现了7-10只恐龙个体的完整或者部分骨架。

Xu and researchers from University College London and Imperial College London have published the first comprehensive study of the 174-million-year-old fossils in the journal Nature, confirming the dinosaur to be a new species and the earliest example of a diplodocoid dinosaur ever found.

徐星以及来自英国伦敦大学学院和帝国理工学院的研究人员在《自然》杂志上发表了关于这些距今1.74亿年的化石的首份综合性研究，确认了这些恐龙为新物种，并且是已知的最早的梁龙超科恐龙。

Several distinctive⁶ skeletal characteristics provide evidence that the extinct animal belonged to the diplodocoid family, which refers to a group of sauropods that include the gigantic, 25-meter-long diplodocus.

一些独特的骨骼特征证明了这一灭绝生物属于梁龙超科大家族，在这个大家族中，包括了25米长的巨型梁龙和一系列蜥脚类动物。

Xu named the dinosaur Lingwulong shenqi (meaning Lingwu amazing dragon) after the town where the fossils were discovered.

徐星以发现这些化石的小城名字为这种恐龙命名为：神奇灵武龙。

Lingwulong was relatively⁷ small by sauropod standards with a relatively short neck. The beast measured 11 to 17 meters and had a long tail and strong, stout⁸ limbs.

以蜥脚类动物的标准来看，神奇灵武龙体型相对较小，脖子也比较短。这种恐龙体长在11-17米之间，有着长长的尾巴和粗壮的四肢。

Lingwulong is the first diplodocoid ever discovered in East Asia. Paleontologists had previously⁹ theorized that a vast inland sea in the supercontinent Pangea prevented diplodocoids from crossing into Asia from other parts of the Northern Hemisphere.

神奇灵武龙是东亚地区发现的首个梁龙超科物种。此前，古生物学家们的学说认为，泛大陆上有一片巨大的内海，令梁龙超科恐龙无法从北半球的其他地区来到亚洲。

"The fact that it is in China is significant as we thought these animals never got into Asia," said Philip Mannion, a researcher from Imperial College London who co-authored the study. "The inland sea may have been less of a barrier than we once thought, or it could have been seasonal¹⁰."

“在中国发现（梁龙超科恐龙）的事实具有重大意义，因为先前我们认为这些生物从未来到过亚洲，”帝国理工学院研究人员、该研究的合著者菲利普·曼尼恩表示。“内海或许并不如我们先前所想的是道隔离屏障，又或者内海是季节性的。”

The fossils are 174 million years old, making Lingwulong the earliest known diplodocoid ever found. Before the discovery, the general consensus¹¹ was that diplodocoids lived between 163 million and 145 million years ago during the late Jurassic and early Cretaceous periods.

这些化石距今1.74亿年，也让神奇灵武龙成为了已知的最早的梁龙超科恐龙。在这一发现之前，普遍共识是梁龙超科类生活在1.63亿-1.45亿年前的侏罗纪晚期到白垩纪早期之间。

"These fossils suggest diplodocoids were around much earlier than previously thought," Mannion said.

“这些化石表明，梁龙超科恐龙比先前认为的出现时间要早得多，”曼尼恩说道。

中国又发现新恐龙.jpg

Mannion said the animals that were discovered may have died together after getting stuck in mud or caught in a flash flood.

曼尼恩表示，发现的这些生物或许因被困于泥沼或者遭遇突发洪水而一同死去。

"We know from previous finds that sauropods lived in small herds," Mannion said. "We have a good record of their footprints in rock, which show multiple individuals walking side by side."

“从先前的发现中，我们可以得知蜥脚类动物以小范围群居的方式生活在一起，”曼尼恩说。“我们在岩层中发现了它们完好的脚印，显示了几只恐龙个体并排而行。”

"They would have spent much of the day eating, consuming pretty much any vegetation that was around," he added.

“它们一天大部分的时间都在进食，消耗掉了周遭大量的植被，”他补充道。

The excavation of the Lingwu fossils was the first dig ever televised live in China. Some of the dinosaur remains¹² now form part of a collection at Lingwu Museum.

神奇灵武龙化石的挖掘工作是国内首次进行电视直播的考古发掘工程。一些恐龙遗迹成为了灵武博物馆的藏品。