Thescelosaurinae A group of small to medium-sized herbivorous dinosaurs that lived in North America during the Late Cretaceous. The newly discovered Thescelosaurinae species Fona Herzogae It shows evidence that these dinosaurs spent at least some of their time in underground burrows.
Fona Herzogae It lived in what is now Utah about 99 million years ago (Cretaceous Period).
At the time, the region was a vast floodplain ecosystem between a huge inland sea to the east and active volcanoes and mountains to the west. It was a warm, wet, muddy environment with numerous rivers and streams.
Since 2013, paleontologists from North Carolina State University and the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences have excavated this fossil, as well as other specimens of the same species, in the Mussenchutchit Formation of the Cedar Mountain Formation.
The state of preservation of these fossils and some of the features they have suggest that they may have been burrowing.
Fona Herzogae It was a small, herbivorous dinosaur about the size of a large dog and with a simple body shape.
Although they lack the flashy ornamentation of their more well-adorned relatives, such as horned, armored, or crowned dinosaurs, Fona Herzogae it was boring.
Fona Herzogae It shares several anatomical features with animals known for digging and burrowing, including large biceps, strong muscle attachments in the hips and legs, fused bones along the pelvis (probably helping with stability while digging), and hind limbs that are proportionally larger than the forelimbs, but that's not the only evidence that this animal spent time underground.
“The fossil record is biased towards large animals, mainly because in floodplain environments like Mussentucht, small bones at the surface are often scattered, rotted, or scavenged before being buried and fossilized,” says Habib Abrahami, a doctoral student at North Carolina State University and digital engineer for the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences' new “Dueling Dinosaurs” program.
“but Fona Herzogae In many cases, the bones are found in very good condition and complete, with many of them preserved in their original death position, with their chest down and their forelimbs spread.”
“If they had already been in an underground burrow before they died, it would have been more likely to have been preserved in this way.”
Dr. Lindsay Zanno, associate research professor at North Carolina State University, director of paleontology at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, and corresponding author of the study, agrees.
“Fona Herzogae “We've found a much larger number of skeletons of small animals with weak bones in this area than we would have expected,” Dr Zanno said.
“The most likely explanation for why so many specimens have been found and why they were recovered in small bundles is that they lived underground, at least part of the time.”
“Essentially, Fona Herzogae They have done a tremendous job for us by putting the whole area underground.”
Although researchers have yet to identify the underground burrow, Fona Herzogaethe tunnels and chambers of its closest relatives, OryctodromeusIt was discovered in Idaho and Montana. These discoveries Fona Herzogae They also used burrows.
Fona Herzogae It is also a distant relative of Willo, another famous North Carolina fossil. Thescelosaurus neglectus This specimen, now in a museum, is thought to have been adapted to a semi-cryptic lifestyle, that is, partially underground.
“Thescelosaurus neglectus At the end of this lineage was Fona Herzogae “It's an ancestor from about 35 million years ago,” Avrahami says.
The researchers Fona Herzogae It is key to improving our understanding of Cretaceous ecosystems.
“Fona Herzogae “It gives us insight into the three-dimensional space that animals can occupy by moving underground,” Avrahami said.
“This discovery adds to the richness of the fossil record and expands the known diversity of small herbivores, a vital yet poorly understood component of Cretaceous ecosystems.”
“People tend to have a myopic view of dinosaurs that hasn't kept pace with scientific advances,” Dr Zanno said.
“We now know that dinosaur diversity ranged from small arboreal gliding animals and nocturnal hunters to sloth-like herbivores and, of course, animals that hid underground.”
of work Appear Anatomy record.
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Habib M. Avrahami othersA new, semi-excavated thescelosaurine dinosaur from the Cenomanian Mussenchutit Formation of the Cedar Mountain Formation in Utah. Anatomy recordPublished online July 9, 2024; doi: 10.1002/ar.25505
This article is a version of a press release provided by North Carolina State University.
Source: www.sci.news
