Identify a new species of plant-eating dinosaur the size ... - 20minutos.es

class=”text”> Drawing on the possible appearance of the dinosaur. (JULIUS CSOTONYI / EP)

Scientists have identified a new species of dinosaur herbivore Pachycephalosauria family in Alberta, Canada, thanks to newly discovered fossils and collected. The Acrotholus audeti, about 1.83 meters and 40 kilograms, is the largest bony skull dinosaur in North America, and possibly the world, according to research published in the journal Nature Communications.

skull was very thick and curved: it used to show up and fight for headers Acrotholus means “high dome”, in reference to its domed skull, which consists of a solid bone more than 10 inches thick, and the name also honors audeti Acrotholus Roy Audet Alberta rancher on whose land the specimen was discovered in 2008. Acrotholus, which lived about 85 million years, walked on two legs and had a very thick skull, bulging above his eyes, used for presentation to other members of their species and can be been used in fights headers.

The new dinosaur discovery has been made possible by two “tops” of skulls located in the Milk River Formation in southern Alberta. One skull was picked up by the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) for over 50 years, but a graduate student at the University of Toronto, Caleb Brown, found a better specimen in 2008 during a field expedition organized by Dr. David Evans of the Royal Ontario Museum and the University of Toronto, and Dr. Michael Ryan of The Cleveland Museum of Natural History.

Small mammals and reptiles can be very diverse and abundant in modern ecosystems, but dinosaurs small (less than 100 kg) are much less common than large in the fossil record. If this pattern is a reflection of the communities of dinosaurs or is related to the greater potential for the small bone destruction by carnivores and natural deterioration, has been discussed.

“We predict that many new species of small dinosaurs as Acrotholus are waiting to be discovered,” said co-author Michael Ryan, curator of vertebrate paleontology at the Natural History Museum in Cleveland, Ohio (USA). “This discovery also highlights the importance of landowners, like Roy Audet, that grant access to their properties and allow important scientific findings” , he adds.

Acrotholus fossils will be on public display at the Royal Ontario Museum to from this May.