‘Unique’ dinosaur fossil with ‘hard head to ram prey’ found in Argentina – World News

A “distinctive” dinosaur fossil with little arms that lived round 70 million years in the past and that had a tough head to ram its prey, has been found in north-west Argentina

Scientists have made the “distinctive” discovery of a fossil belonging to a beforehand unknown meat-eating dinosaur that had little arms and had a robust head to ram its prey.

The cranium of the Cretaceous Interval dinosaur, named Guemesia ochoai, that lived about 70 million years in the past was found in Argentina’s northwestern Salta province.

It’s an thrilling discover that has led scientists to think about whether or not it’s half of a complete new species as it’s so totally different.

The researchers stated it probably belongs to a carnivorous group of dinosaurs referred to as abelisaurs, which walked on two legs and possessed solely stub-like arms, even shorter than these of North America’s Tyrannosaurus rex.

The brief arms might have pressured Guemesia to depend on its highly effective cranium and jaws, the researchers stated.

“It is so distinctive and so totally different from different carnivorous dinosaurs, which permits us to know that we’re coping with a very new species,” stated Federico Agnolin, lead writer of a research on the dinosaur printed within the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology and a researcher with Argentine nationwide science council CONICET.

The animal, that might have been younger when it died, lived only a few million years earlier than an asteroid affect at what’s now Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula that worn out about three-quarters of Earth’s species together with the dinosaurs about 66 tens of millions years in the past.

Scientists imagine abelisaurs roamed what’s now Africa, South America and India, and a number of other dozen specimens have
beforehand been dug up in Argentina – almost all of them in southern Patagonia, removed from the location of Guemesia’s discovery.

“We all know it had a really sharp sense of odor and was short-sighted,” stated Agnolin, noting that it will have walked
upright on its giant ft, with its strong skull main the way in which.

“Some scientists suppose that might imply the animal hunted its prey by charging them with its head,” Agnolin added.

The invention provides to Argentina’s fame as a treasure trove of fossils of dinosaurs and different prehistoric creatures.

Guemesia takes its title from Argentine independence hero Martin Miguel de Guemes and Javier Ochoa, a museum employee who
made the invention.