In February 2018, a group of paleontologists extracted with great difficulty a block of rock with fossil remains exposed in the steep hill of the Valle del Río de las Chinas. (What’s more: Extinction of large herbivores sparked fires around the world)Īnother conclusion of this work is that armored dinosaurs are the only landline vertebrate lineage that has independently evolved three radically different types of specialized tail weapons: the paired spikes of stegosaurs, the mace of advanced ankylosaurs, and the macuahuitl of Stegouros just found. Clearly, the tail weapon on our dinosaur was none of the above.”, described the Chilean scientist. “Advanced ankylosaurs, on the other hand, are famous for their broad backs armored by rows of osteoderms, and for having a huge rounded mace at the end of their tail. It also has some traits similar to stegosaurs, inherited from a common ancestor with them, but that other ankylosaurs lost in evolution, “added the researcher.īased on these data, the team from the University of Chile argues that the discovery is a “Rosetta Stone” of this group of prehistoric animals, a finding that explains and makes sense of the evolution of these battleships whose remains have been found in few quantities in the Southern Hemisphere.įor his part, paleontologist Alexander Vargas emphasized that stegosaurs are among the most recognizable species, both for their powerful dorsal plates and for their paired barbed tail weapon. “ Stegouros it has only some of the features normally found in ankylosaurs, particularly in the skull, but many others are absent.
Paleontologist Sergio Soto, lead author of the study, points out that the research allowed to determine that the specimen was a transitional ankylosaur, that is, “an evolutionary link between ankylosaurs (armored species of dinosaurs) and other older lineages of armored dinosaurs. With a dimension around 2 meters, the new species was named “Stegouros lengassen”: denomination that, as explained by the Chilean researchers, translates as “roofed tail” from Stegouros, while the term “ lengassen“It refers to an armored monster from the tradition of the Tehuelche people, originally from the southern part of the country. Identification of the specimen, led by scientists Sergio Soto and Alexander Vargas, revealed the existence of a hitherto unknown lineage of armored dinosaurs. (Too: In search of 1.5 million-year-old ice under Antarctica) The end of its tail had a particular shape similar to the macuahuitl, a feared club used by the ancient Aztecs, a rarity that allowed it to be clearly identified as a new type of armored dinosaur.Īs the work teams removed the rock, they found a practically complete skeleton with its articulated posterior area, half of which had seven pairs of laterally projected dermal bones that gave it a similar appearance to the war club used by the Aztecs. The identification of the specimen, led by scientists Sergio Soto and Alexander Vargas, revealed the existence of a hitherto unknown lineage of armored dinosaurs that, in this case, included a tail that amazed researchers by not resembling that of any cataloged specimen. (You may be interested in: This is the recently discovered extinct sea monster in Villa de Leyva) The discovery, of high global impact and disclosed this Wednesday, occurred in an inhospitable area near Torres del Paine National Park when in February 2018 a group of paleontologists extracted with great difficulty a block of rock with fossil remains exposed on the steep hill of the Valley of the River of the Chinas. A team of researchers from the University of Chile god with a new species of armored dinosaur after finding a 74 million-year-old intact fossil in the southern Magallanes Region, the most important discovery in Chilean paleontology along with the Chilesaurus diegosuarezi.