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A team of researchers discovered the remains of a giant dinosaur the oldest, who lived more than 200 million years ago, in a paleontological site in the west. from Argentina ] reported Monday a scientific source.
The species, named Ingenia prima is about three times the size of the largest dinosaurs of the Triassic and was found in 2015 at Balde de Lois in the province of San Juan, at 1100 km to the west of Buenos Aires
The discovery was published Monday in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution and published in Argentina by ] Scientific Broadcasting Agency (CTyS) ] of the National University of La Matanza .
"As soon as we found it, we realized that it was something different. to be giant, among all the dinosaurs. That's the novelty, "says Cecilia Apaldetti, researcher at the Institute and at the Museum of Natural Sciences of the University of San Juan (IMCN) and Conicet (National Council for Scientific and Technical Research) ]
The researchers found some vertebras of the neck and tail, bones of the forelegs and parts of the hind legs.
According to Apaldetti, author of the study, this species "shows a growth strategy unknown until now. indicates that the origin of gigantism occurred much earlier than previously thought. "
It is" dinosaurs herbivorous, quadrupeds and easily distinguishable by their very long neck and very long tail, "
Up to this discovery, one considered that gigantism had emerged during the Jurassic period about 180 million years ago
. Ricardo Martinez, also co-author of the book, argued that "Ingenia prima date" of a very high Triassic higher, perhaps 205 million years.
L & rsquo; Team works on the levels of Triassic time in which dinosaurs were just beginning to appear. The first ones were small, but they evolved towards gigantism to defend themselves against the predators.
According to scientists, Ingenia prima is the first dinosaur to reach gigantism and although it is far from the 70 tons that weighed sauropods larger than the late Cretaceous, the rate of The accumulation of bone tissue was greater than the species of its time and the largest giants that inhabited Patagonia in southern Argentina. 19659012] Cyclic Growth
The bone sections of the dinosaur show seasonal cyclical growth, with a different type of tissue from other sauropods which allows for very rapid growth.
The species reached between 8 and 10 meters, since the found specimen, which measured between 6 and 7 meters, was juvenile and was still developing. And that it weighed about 10 tons, the equivalent of two or three African elephants.
Another feature of the species is the existence of "pneumatic cavities" in the bones that lightened the weight and would have promoted its growth, explains the work. ] The dinosaur was found on the site of Bucket of Laws in San Juan, discovered in 2001 and of which hundreds of specimens were mined in 2014. The site, several thousand of them. hectares, was a chance of the savannah at the end of the Triassic
AFP
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