Study reveals new theories about the growth of giant dinosaurs

New dinosaur fossils belonging to the Late Tribadic (or Late Tribadic) of Argentina offer a fresh perspective on theories about how these creatures grew to reach large dimensions.

As described in a study published today in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution this specimen – from an antiquity of between 237 and 201 million years ago s – is among the first giant sauropods.

was directed by Cecilia Apaldetti, of the National University of San Juan, Argentina, in collaboration with researchers Ricardo N. Martinez, Ignacio A. Cerda, Diego Pol and Oscar Alcober

This is a kind of dinosaur 30 million years older than its cousins ​​the titanosaurs a discovery that alters the ideas that were held on how these creatures could reach large sizes.

] Unlike their successors, the first dinosaurs of the Diplodocus family or the Brachyiosaurs were small and had only two legs.

In addition, they lived in the area corresponding to southeast. from the supercontinent Pangea.

As explained in the article, the most widespread theory indicated that the acquisition of the "giant body" had occurred during the Jurbadic and was linked to many skeletal changes present in the branch of Eusauropoda.

the new discovery reveals that the first impulse towards gigantism in dinosaurs occurred more than 30 million years before the appearance of the first modern sauropods.

This new theory shows, as fundamental factors of this evolution, a very accelerated growth rate, an improved avian-style respiratory system and modifications of the vertebral epaxial musculature and hind limbs

While the origin of gigantism in modern sauropods was a fundamental step in the evolution of dinosaurs, "an incomplete fossil record hides the details of this crucial change," says the lsl. study.

"These surveys show that there is more than one way to" create "a giant dinosaur and that the iconic sauropods have behind them a long history of evolutionary innovation," the document says.