02/14/2020 - 10:29
- Clarín.com
- Society
Fossil remains of a skull, which include the maxillary bone and some teeth, revealed a new species of carnivorous dinosaur that inhabited Patagonia 90 million years ago.
The species, called Tralkasaurus cuyi , is much smaller than the carnivorous dinosaurs of the group of abelisaurus theropods known so far. It measured about four meters.
The finding occurred in February 2018 northwest of the Argentine province of Río Negro, 25 kilometers from the city of Villa El Chocón. He was informed this Thursday by the Agency for Scientific Dissemination (CTyS) of the National University of La Matanza.
The snout of the Tralkasaurus cuyi still preserves the teeth (Argentine Museum of Natural Sciences / AFP).
The researchers found the skull and snout , which still preserves the teeth. They also found cervical ribs and part of the spine of the hip and tail.
Researcher Mauricio Cerroni of the Argentine Museum of Natural Sciences (MACN) and CONICET said that "the materials found are diagnostic to describe this new species."
"As for the rest of the skeleton, cervical ribs were found, which come out of the neck and are very long, so it is believed that they are tendons that have fossilized. In addition, part of the spine of the hip and tail was found "said the lead author of the study published in the Journal of South American Earth Sciences.
Dr. Federico Agnolín, also a researcher at the MACN and CONICET Natural History Foundation, observed that "the body size of the Tralkasaurus is smaller than that of other carnivores in this group , the abelisaurs are about four meters long, while the previously known are between seven and eleven meters. "
Tralkasaurus cuyi inhabited Argentine Patagonia 90 million years ago (AFP).
In the group of theropod dinosaurs is, for example, the famous Tyrannosaurus rex , which is native to North America and reached 14 meters in length. And the Chubut Carnotaurus sastrei , which also gained fame in Hollywood with the Disney movie called Dinosaur. It had horns and reached 10 meters long.
"The Tralkasaurus, being much smaller, reveals that the abelisaurus group of theropods encompassed a much wider ecological niche than previously thought," said Cerroni.
Although its size is very small compared to the Tyrannosaurus or Carnotaurus, this new Río Negro dinosaur shares with them the characteristics of being a bipedal animal, short-necked and muscular, with four claws on each of its hind legs, while his arms were also very short in relation to his body and the bones of his limbs were light and hollow.
According to the authors of this study, it is possible that Tralkasaurus has fed on the small herbivorous dinosaurs known as iguanodontes, which were found by the same team of paleontologists in nearby places, along with other species such as turtles and lizards.
"This new discovery helps us define ecological habits, both of carnivorous dinosaurs as well as herbivores," said Cerroni.
They found remains of the dinosaur Tralkasaurus cuyi (Argentine Museum of Natural Sciences / AFP).
Federico Agnolín said that "the snout of this new species has a lot of ornamentation, that is, an outer surface marked by roughness (a characteristic of the snout of these carnivores), which makes us assume that, instead of having horns like Carnotaurus, could have had small or underdeveloped corneal structures. "
Cerroni highlighted a particularity in the bones of the middle region of the column of this new species. "There is an element that holds the rib that is very thin, something that has never been seen in any other group of carnivores," he explained.
The name with which this new dinosaur was baptized comes from the Mapundungum, colloquially known as the Mapuche language, and means "Thunder Reptile . " The middle name, "cuyi", refers to the place where it was found, the El Cuy plateau, in the province of Río Negro.
Sources: DPA / AFP
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