researcher have unearthed numerous tooth , hip , and branch os fragments that belong to a new dinosaur species they ’ve now namedLaquintasaura venezuelae . It ’s the first dino found in the north of South America .
The 201 - million - class - honest-to-god dodo belonging to at least fourLaquintasauraindividuals were discovered in Lower Jurassic sediments of the La Quinta Formation of the Venezuelan Andes . The freshly learn dinos are early members of a chemical group cognize as the ornithischians – or “ bird - hipped ” dinosaurs – which later would give rise to Stegosaurus , Iguanodon , and Triceratops . The other major club of dinosaurs are call saurischians , or “ lizard - hipped ” dinosaur , and these include T. male monarch and Diplodocus . ( Interestingly , birds evolved from these guy rope , not the bird - hipped ones . )
An international squad led byPaul Barrett from the Natural History Museumin Londondescribed the new speciesinProceedings of the Royal Society Bthis calendar week . Laquintasaurawalked on its two hind legs and was about the sizing of a small dog . The gravid femur bump was 90 millimeters long , suggesting that the bipedal dinosaur ’s total consistency was about one meter in length and 25 centimetre tall at the pelvic girdle .
“ The early history of shuttlecock - hipped dinosaur is still very patchy as so few of them have been found,”explainsstudy authorMarcelo Sánchez -Villagra from the University of Zürich . By analyzing the residuary radioactivity of tiny crystal within the rock , the squad reveal thatLaquintasauralived 201 million years ago – soon after a major extinction event at theend of the Triassic Period . This was one of the greatest mass extinction outcome , wiping out at least half of the metal money live on Earth at the time . These new fogy show just how chop-chop dinosaur bounced back after the event . to boot , Laquintasauralived in the equatorial region , which was antecedently call back to be too tropical and inhospitable for these form of dinosaurs .
“ There are many surprising firsts withLaquintasaura , ” Barrett excuse in anews going . “ Not only does it extend the distribution of other dinosaur , its age pee it significant for infer their other evolution and behavior . ”
These newly discovered individuals ranged between three to about 12 long time onetime . The research worker think they were mostly herbivorous , give on ferns , though the long curved tips on some of their teeth suggest that they also may have eaten louse and other small fair game .
Because four someone were found together , the squad believesLaquintasauralived in humble groups , making this the earliest example of social behavior in ornithischians , “ It is fascinating and unexpected to see they lived in herds,”Barrett tot up , “ something we have minuscule evidence of so far in dinosaurs from this time . ”
The genus name comes from “ Laquinta ” after the horizon in which it was found , and “ saura , ” which is Greek for lounge lizard . The species is name for the country and masses of Venezuela .
image : Mark Witton ( top ) & Adrian Ritter and UZH ( middle )
