PARIS Era herbivore, could reach up to three meters in size and anatomy reminiscent of several species: the Chilesaurus diegosaurezi is “one of the strangest dinosaurs ever discovered,” said paleontologists yesterday.
This new dinosaur belongs to the family of theropods, like the famous carnivores like Velociraptor, carnotauro or tyrannosaurus. But chilesaurio had special features.
“We are amazed by the strange anatomy Chilesaurio, reminiscent of the different groups of dinosaurs, said Fernando Novas, Argentine paleontologist author of the study published in the journal Nature.
” Your pelvic girdle resembles the ornitisquios, bird-hipped dinosaurs, large hind legs and four fingers, much like primitive Sauropodomorphs “that theropods, thinner and with three fingers.
According to paleontologist, the chilesaurio “is one of the known strangest dinosaurs.”
His skeleton was first discovered in southern Chile, near Lake General Carrera, Aysen region, by Diego Suarez, who gave his name.
In February 2004, this 7 year old boy accompanied his paleontologists parents in the Andes when he found by chance fossils found in rocks dating from the end of the Jurassic period, about 145 million years ago.
Since then they found more than a dozen copies of this dinosaur, including four complete skeletons.
“At first I was convinced that there were three different dinosaurs, but when we put together the most complete skeleton, it became clear that all elements belonged to a new species of dinosaur,” says Novas.
The small proportion skull or teeth shaped leaf reveal that fed on plants.
In fact, the different parts of the Chilesaurio body were adapted to a diet as a way of individuals, similar to other groups of dinosaurs, as a result of the phenomenon of convergent evolution life, said a statement from the English University of Birmingham.
“In this process, there are one or more regions of the body that resembles the other species that are not related because of similar modes life and revolutionary pressures,” explains Martin Ezcurra, Argentina also co-author of the research.
Dinosaur Teeth are very close to those of primitive dinosaurs equipped with a large collar for millions of years because they had a system of comparable power.
“The Chilesaurus is a good example to illustrate the mechanisms of evolution” in past eras, said Ezcurra. According to paleontologist, dinosaur bare represents “one of the most interesting cases of convergent evolution documented in the history of life”.
In an interview with EFE, Novas also stressed the importance of finding for Chile, which until now had no record of dinosaurs from the Jurassic period and now joins the first herbivorous theropod the southern hemisphere.
(AFP / “El Mercurio”)
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