"Plesiosaurs' Remarkable Neck Evolution: Doubling Length through Additional Vertebrae"

Plesiosaurs, marine reptiles that lived around 250 million years ago, rapidly developed their long necks over a five million year period by adding new vertebrae. The discovery was made by researchers in China and the UK who studied the fossils of a short-necked plesiosaur ancestor called Chusaurus xiangensis. The findings shed light on the rapid evolution of marine reptiles during the recovery period following the end-Permian mass extinction.