Article Author:
Washington Post
Marisa Iati, The Washington Post
A species of dinosaur recently discovered in Argentina was roughly the size of a dog, with a shell-like back, distinctive jaws, and small arms. It was.
Fossils from the humid Late Cretaceous - nearly 100 million years old - show that Jakapil caniucula walked on two legs, unlike most other dinosaurs in its family. suggesting that The plant-eating creature had armor plates to protect it from predators, and weighed about the same as a Boston Terrier. It sheds light on a previously unknown lineage of dinosaurs from the Cyreophoridae, including. and show for the first time the alphabet of a dinosaur that lived in Argentina," said researcher Sebastian Apesteguia in a statement.
Jakapil's name comes from the crest at the bottom of the dinosaur's jaw, but its function is unknown. "Kaniukula" means "stone emblem" in the native Mapuche language, researchers said.
Jakapil's teeth were also strange. Most herbivorous dinosaurs had similar leaf-shaped teeth in both jaws, but the newly discovered dinosaur's teeth were shaped differently in each jaw. Their teeth also appear to be worn down, indicating that they process food more efficiently than the rest of the family.
The road to rebuilding dinosaur bodies began in 2012. Apestegia visits the Buitorella paleontological district where other dinosaurs have been found, where he discovers two small bones that cannot be identified. Two years later, he and other scientists discovered a skeleton with unusual teeth and a block-like jaw.
One researcher recognized the fossil as a type of armored dinosaur, and he continued to collect bones until 2020 when the reconstruction of the species' structure was complete. Desert areas tend to have few animal fossils because many species cannot live there, Apesteguia said in a statement.
"Jacapir was a small and very rare dinosaur that obviously liked to travel in desert environments," said Apestegia.
Scientists shared a species reconstruction video on Twitter. In it, two jakapils walk along a desert landscape, stretching upwards and emitting soft guttural growls.
Dinosaur finds are somewhat common. Paleontologists identify dozens of species each year. In 2021, Australian scientists announced the discovery of a dinosaur the size of his basketball court.
But many dinosaurs are not fossilized, so finding all the types of dinosaurs in existence is almost impossible, he reports Gizmodo. The fact that dinosaurs must have died under the right circumstances for dinosaur fossils to be found makes every discovery a remarkable event.
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