Hong Kong ( CNN ) Paleontologists have discovered a 50-foot `` dragon '' dinosaur species in China that may have roamed the earth 160 million years ago during the Late Jurassic period . The long skeleton was found in 2006 by farmers digging for a fish pond in Qijiang city in the southwestern Chongqing province . Lida Xing , a member of the research team from the University of Alberta who made the discovery , told CNN it was named Qijianglong , the `` dragon of Qijiang '' because farmers thought the bones resembled the shape of Chinese mythical dragons . `` We found the dinosaur 's huge vertebrae with the skull and the tail , but could n't find any bones from the hands or the legs . So the locals began to say the long body looked just like a dragon from ancient Chinese stories , '' said Xing . The findings , published earlier this week in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology , show that the new species belongs to a group of dinosaurs called mamenchisaurids , known for their extremely long necks , which would measure up to half their body length . Most sauropods , or long-necked dinosaurs , such as those depicted in the popular animated series , `` The Land Before Time , '' have necks that span only one third of their body length . `` Qijianglong is a cool animal . If you imagine a big animal that is half neck , you can see that evolution can do quite extraordinary things , '' Tetsuto Miyashita , a PhD student at the University of Alberta , said in a press release . The dinosaur is the youngest addition to the mamenchisaurid group , which is only found in Asia . The discovery suggests that there may be other species of long-necks within the genus from different continents . `` Qijianglong shows that long-necked dinosaurs diversified in unique ways in Asia during Jurassic times -- something very special was going on in that continent , '' said Miyashita . `` Nowhere else we can find dinosaurs with longer necks than those in China . The new dinosaur tells us that these extreme species thrived in isolation from the rest of the world . '' The skeleton is now housed in a museum in Qijiang , but will be moved to a new dinosaur museum in the city that is currently being built . How much do you really know about dinosaurs ?
A 50-foot long skeleton may reveal a new species of long-necked dinosaur . The discovery is the first time that scientists have found evidence for an animal with such a large neck and tail, according to University College London paleontologist Dr David Norman. Unearthed in 2006 by local farmers , the bones are said to date back to the Late Jurassic period .