Newly discovered horned dinosaur was like a unicorn from hell
spinosaurus mirabilis was a force to be reckoned with
spinosaurus mirabilis Moved away from their inland home to hunt aquatic prey.
Millions of years before the Sahara became a desert, it was a vibrant ecosystem. Bordering the ancient Tethys Sea, which divided the supercontinent Pangaea, the region was home to giant dinosaurs, including a newly discovered terrifying predator that would have been as deadly on land as it was in the sea.
This courageous creature, spinosaurus mirabilis, It stood between 10 and 14 meters tall and had a massive blade-like crest on its head. Its discovery, detailed in a paper published today Science, It came about almost by chance: Bones of the new species were found in a known fossil hotspot. But the area is so remote that no researchers had been there for decades — until University of Chicago paleontologist Paul Sereno and his colleagues arrived in 2019. s mirabilis.
“We knew it was the jaws of a carnivorous dinosaur,” says Daniel Vidal, a paleontologist at the University of Chicago and co-author of the new paper.
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The discovery offers a new perspective into the evolution of spinosaurids, a group that includes members of s mirabilisAnd it turns out that some people could hunt both on land and at sea. Emerging from their inland home, the newly discovered dinosaur probably sought prey in shallow waters like a fiercer and more massive version of the modern heron.
“It looks a lot like[previously discovered spinosaurids]but is different at the species level, and it’s inland,” Sereno says. “Recognizing that this is a fantastic new species, I think that’s one of the more important points of the paper.”
Researchers return to the desert in 2022 and find other fragments S. mirabilis. Vidal created three-dimensional models of the bones at the same time so the team could begin piecing the dinosaur pieces together in real time.
“We could actually get our first glimpse of this new species before we even completed the excavation,” says Vidal. “This was really something that 21st century paleontology could do.”
These models helped researchers identify the crest of the head s mirabilis. It was so huge – 50 centimeters – that, at first, it confused the team; Researchers didn’t know what it was. But once they identified it as a crest, it became one of the main pieces of evidence. s mirabilis There was a previously unseen species of spinosaurid. Coated in a layer of keratin that could be brightly colored, such a prominent crest could have provided several advantages s mirabilis, Perhaps by attracting the attention of potential mates and driving away competitors.
All spinosaurids had an impressive crest on their heads, but none were as “attractive” and “distinctive” as s mirabilissays Roger Benson, curator of paleontology at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, who was not involved in the research. Benson says he would be “really excited to see more complete specimens of spinosaurids” to better understand their unique body proportions.
Other findings from the skull and leg bones of the new species show that s mirabilis He was a formidable, semiaquatic hunter. Its interlocking conical teeth and long legs allowed the dinosaur to hunt on land as well as wade through shallow water and chase marine creatures out of the water.
According to Sereno and his team, these physical characteristics—and the fact that s mirabilis The find—so far inland—may be the final nail in the coffin for the old paleontological theory that spinosaurids were entirely aquatic dinosaurs.
“It was the culmination of an expedition that I think will never be matched in the history of paleontology,” Sereno says. “This will go down as one of the great campaigns.”
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