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A drawing shows the newly discovered dinosaur Akainacephalus johnsoni, who lived 76 million years ago in Utah. He is surrounded by the crocodilian Denazinosuchus. (Andrey Atuchin / Denver Museum of Nature and Science via Reuters)
With his head and muzzle covered with a bone-shaped armor From cones and pyramids, a spindly fleshy dinosaur dug in southern Utah was not just another pretty face.
Scientists announced Thursday the discovery of fossils of a dinosaur named Akainacephalus johnsoni (pronounced uh-KEE-nuh-SEFF-uh-luss JON-his-eye) who lived there was 76 million years ago during the Cretaceous period. This was a four-legged plant eater, armed with armor, with a threatening club at the end of his tail.
This was a member of a group of dinosaurs called ankylosaurs (ang-KILE-uh-SAWRS), among the most armored animals on Earth – and for good reason, given the predators of l & # 39; era.
The unique shape and arrangement of his head and muzzle armor is perhaps his most interesting feature, according to the researchers. "Someone once said that Akainacephalus, and the ankylosaurs in general, were very ugly and had a face that only a mother could love. I must say that I completely agree. They are extraordinary and beautiful animals, "said paleontologist Jelle Wiersma of James Cook University in Australia
Akainacephalus was a medium-sized ankylosaur, about 16 feet long, with a short, square head covered with Bone armor and a beak Small teeth teeth for plant cultivation, said paleontologist Randall Irmis of the Natural History Museum of Utah and the United States. University of Utah
A reenactment of the life of the new armored dinosaur Akainacephalus johnsoni, covered with thorny armor. (Andrey Atuchind / Denver Museum of Nature and Science via Reuters)
had a short neck and broad chest, was walking on four short, stubby legs, and could have predators struck with his bony tail club.He lived in a warm and humid environment similar to the bayous of southern Louisiana, with courses slow water and s associated wetlands.
Extensive skeletal remains, including a complete skull, were excavated in the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. ] Akainacephalus, as well as a cousin called Nodocephalosaurus (NOH-do-SEF-a-lo-SOR-us), who lived in New Mexico a few million years later, possessed a similar spiny head armor to Asian members of this group of dinosaurs. This shows that Akainacephalus and Nodocephalosaurus were close relatives of Asian ankylosaurs and that several emigration events involving this group occurred from Asia to North America at the end of the Cretaceous. said the researchers. This resulted in two distinct lineages in North American band-tailed ankylosaurs
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