Fossil in Argentina suggests that giant dinosaurs evolved earlier than expected

Sauropods are the largest known creatures ever to have roamed on earth, but these massive dinosaurs have not emerged with their bodies already inflated.

They have grown for a long time. The fossils uncovered in Argentina suggest, however, that this occurred earlier than previously thought.

Gigantism evolved 30 million years ago

In an article published in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution The discovery of new species of dinosaurs that suggest that gigantism has evolved about 30 million years earlier than scientists previously thought. He also showed that giant dinosaurs had different ways to evolve.

"The evolution of small bipolar sauropodomorphs to giant quadrupeds involved many anatomical changes," the researchers wrote in their study.

The partial fossil of the creature that lived between 237 million and 201 million years ago, was found buried at the Quebrada del Barro Formation in Argentina. The fossilized remains include a shoulder bone, several vertebrae of the neck and some bones of the paws and tail.

Ingentia Prima

The bones belonged to an herbivore called Ingentia prima. The species is classified as sauropodomorph. The group includes the Brontosaurus and their cousins ​​and ancestors of the Triassic.

Triassic sauropodomorphs seemed different from their later parents. Some of them were tiny and many were bipeds. They had neither evolved limb-shaped members associated with massive bodies.

Cecilia Apaldetti, of the National University of San Juan, and her colleagues analyzed the fossils with three other nearby but already documented dinosaur specimens, Lessemsaurus sauropoides. 19659004] Characteristics

The researchers found that the weight of I. prima varied between 7 and 10 tons, and that the elongated neck and long tail were not as pronounced as those observed at their later parents [19659013]. It featured a bird-like cervical sac and a neck with features that allowed the oversized animal to stay cool. It also has structures in the dorsal spines and hind limbs needed to support large bodies.

According to the researchers, many of these adaptations were not really specific to gigantism but provided greater mobility for I. prima. Unlike younger sauropods, these creatures stood on their bent legs and had bones that thickened by accelerated accelerations instead of regular and rapid growth.

"We present a new non-Eusauropod sauropodomorph and three new specimens of Lessemsaurus sauropoides.The Triassic of Argentina, which shows the presence of a new growth strategy that has allowed them to survive. to achieve large sizes without having the anatomical features previously considered adaptations to the gigantism of the Eusauropods, "the researchers said:

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