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Australian paleontologists have identified an unknown plant growth dinosaur from the Middle Cretaceous. Remarkably, the fossilized bones of these creatures, which shine in shades of blue and green, are preserved in the opal.
New research published today in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology describes Fostoria dhimbangunmal, a dinosaur species closely related to Iguanodon and Muttaburrasaurus. Fossils of four specimens were found at Lightning Ridge, a small town in the Australian outback. As reported in The Australian, paleontologists recovered opal-encrusted fossils in 1984 after being alerted of their presence by an opaline miner, Robert Foster, who was working 10 meters under a field known as the name of "Sheepyard".
After the excavation, these fossils were exhibited at the Australian Museum in Sydney, where they remained for decades. The Foster family recently donated these fossils to the Australian Opal Center, where researchers recognized that opal objects deserved further investigation. The analysis, led by Phil Bell of the University of New England at Armidale, Australia, revealed that fossils belonged to a new species. The researchers named the dinosaur in Foster 's honor and the field above the deposit where the bones were found; the name dhimbangunmal (pronounced dim-baan goon-evil) translates into sheep in Yawaalaraay, the local indigenous language.
Lightning Ridge is famous for its opal gems, which form in the basement for a long time from a solution of silicon dioxide and water (to learn more about the process here). It is not uncommon to find a bone or tooth that has been opalised, but the discovery of about sixty opal-encrusted bones (including the puzzle) in a single individual, an adult. Fostoria– is unprecedented.
The opalised fossils of three other individuals, all juveniles, have also been identified in the new study. The remains were all found mingled in the opal mine, which led Bell to assume that these individuals were once part of a herd or family, as reported in National Geographic. The researchers used a scanner to analyze the fossils without damaging them.
Fostoria is now the oldest known iguanodontian dinosaur ever found in Australia. Dating from the Middle Cretaceous, about 100 million years ago, these flat-toothed herbivorous creatures forced themselves while they stood on their hind legs. Today, this area of New South Wales is barren and dusty, but contains rivers, lagoons and vast expanses of vegetation in the middle of the Cretaceous. Mostly Fostoria It was "one of the first members of a group that would have evolved elsewhere to duck-billed hadrosaurs, which were widespread in North America and Asia at the end of the dinosaurs' time" , wrote James Kuether for National Geographic.
"It's already quite exciting to have a mass of new Australian dinosaurs," said Liz Freedman Fowler, an assistant professor of biology at Dickinson State University, in an email to Gizmodo. "Keeping them in a beautiful opal is also a spectacular bonus. Congratulations to the discoverers of the origin for recognizing the importance of their discovery so that the bones can be updated scientifically and safely, "said Fowler, who did not participate in the new research.
According to paleontologist Terry Gates of the Department of Biological Sciences at North Carolina State University, Australia has a long tradition in producing "weird and amazing creatures," also missing from the new study. Gates attributed this to the isolated geographical position of the continent. the Fostoria This discovery "dramatically bridges our understanding of the evolution of duckbill dinosaurs," Gates explained in an email to Gizmodo.
To which he added: "It is difficult to imagine a more perfect form for precious stones than a new species of dinosaur."
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