[ad_1]
An incredible new species of armored dinosaur measuring about 3.5 feet (one meter) tall and 13 feet (four meters) long was discovered by archaeologists in Utah.
The herbivore, which was discovered in the desert, is believed to have crossed a land bridge that connected Asia to North America there are about 76 millions of years.
The newly discovered species is the oldest example of an armored dinosaur from the late Cretaceous.
It is also the most complete skeleton of an ankylosaurid, a family of armored dinosaurs, which was found in the southwestern United States, experts say.
Researchers at the University of Utah unearthed the desert creature at the Grand Escalante National Monument in Kane County, Utah. It will occupy a prominent place at the Natural History Museum of Utah
The newly discovered species does not resemble other ankylosaurids in North America, but looks much more like a Asian species that had a protective spiny armor covering his skull. and the muzzle.
Asian ankylosaurids had more pronounced crampons covering their skulls, compared to the smooth armor of their American counterparts.
Although ankylosaurids were born in Asia 125 to 100 million years ago, the family of armored dinosaurs did not appear. About 77 million years ago, scientists in the West thought that lowering sea level at the time would have allowed Asian dinosaurs to cross a land bridge and immigrate to North America.
Dr. Randall Irmis, co-author of the study says, "A reasonable hypothesis would be that Ankylosaurids from Utah are related to those found elsewhere in western North America. , so we were really surprised to discover that Akainacephalus was so closely related to Asian species. "
Includes a complete skull, most of the spine, a large bony club at the end of the tail , several elements of the front and back limbs and a bone armor, including two necks
The four-legged dinosaur would also have had small leaf-shaped teeth to eat plants.
The name of the genus is derived from the Greek words akaina, which means "thorn" or "thorn." And cephalus, meaning "head".
The researchers named the new species "johnsoni" after the volunteer at the Natural History Museum, who prepared his skull for the exhibition at the Natural History Museum of Utah
four years to prepare the entire skeleton after the discovery of the skeleton.
Randy Johnson, retired chemist and paleontology volunteer, said the dedication was a "unique honor"
He said, "I could not believe it. when they told me that they named the ankylosaurus after me, a unique honor.
Nearly all the dinosaurs discovered in the last 15 years in the Grand Escalante-Escalante National Monument are a new species. Palaeontologists are investigating why there is such a concentration of new dinosaurs in the area.
The Kane County area would have been on the southern part of the "Lost Continent" of Laramidia – an island that stretched from Alaska to Mexico before the two parts of North America. North were formed to form a single continent
Other species recently discovered in the region include carnivorous dinosaurs, horned dinosaurs and duckbill dinosaurs, large and small
. the new dinosaur was the skeleton of a duckbill dinosaur known as Gryposaurus, a newly discovered turtle species, and an alligator-like species that has not yet been named.
Principal author and doctoral student Jelle Wiersma said, "It is always exciting to name a new fossil taxon, but it is equally exciting if this taxon also gives an additional insight into his life, such as his diet or its aspects. his behavior and the environment in which he lived.
"This is exactly the case of Akainacephalus johnsoni; This is not only the first described and named Cretaceous ankylosaurid dinosaur from Utah, but this unique animal also reinforces the evidence that distinct northern and southern provincialism existed during the late Campanian stage of Laramidia
. our work in southern Utah is to try to understand why the GSENM species differ from their parents of the same geological age as those found in other parts of Laramidia. "
Source link
