Cinderella Longipes It is the first ceratopsian species known from the Early Cretaceous of Asia, extending the geological range of the dinosaur group Ceratopsia on the continent by 40 million years.
Cinderella Longipesreference specimen (b) and holotype (cj). Image courtesy of Averyanov. others., doi: 10.1098/rspb.2024.0537.
The newly discovered dinosaur species lived in what is now Siberia between 121 and 113 million years ago (the Early Cretaceous period).
Named Cinderella LongipesThe ancient creature is estimated to have been 2.5 metres (8.2 feet) long.
it is Noasauridaean extinct family and group of small carnivorous dinosaurs. Ceratopsians.
“Ceratopsians were the first major lineage of theropod dinosaurs to achieve taxonomic diversity and a wide geographic distribution,” said Dr. Alexander Averyanov from the Institute of Zoology and his colleagues.
“They were probably distributed worldwide during the Late Jurassic, but were pushed out of the northern continents by other theropod groups and underwent a secondary radiation in the Cretaceous on Gondwana, where they became the dominant predators and survived until the end of the Cretaceous.”
“AbelisauroideaThe most diverse ceratosaurid clade, the Acanthosaurus genus, is known from the Cretaceous of Europe, where it is probably represented by secondary dispersals, but in Asia no ceratosaurids are known from the Late Jurassic onwards.
Fragmentary skeleton Cinderella Longipes Fossils including cervical vertebrae, pectoral girdle, humerus, and hind limbs were excavated at the Shestakovo 1 locality in the Ilek Formation of Western Siberia.
“Cinderella Longipes Share unique hind leg proportions Elaphrosaurus and Limusaurus“This suggests improved running ability,” the paleontologists said.
“These species show ostrich-like foot specializations, with a large third metatarsal and a greatly reduced second metatarsal.”
“In contrast, all other fast-running non-avian theropod dinosaurs have arc metatarsals, with the third metatarsal being greatly reduced proximally.”
According to the authors: Cinderella Longipes This is about 40 million years younger than the youngest recorded Asian ceratosaur to date.
“Cinderella Longipes It was part of a rare vertebrate group dominated by advanced ceratopsian dinosaurs. Psittacosaurus sibiricus“However, it also includes groups of tetrapods long extinct elsewhere, such as stem salamanders, protosuchian and chartegosuchian crocodylomorphs, tritylodontian synapsids, and docodontian mammalomorphs,” the researchers said.
Team work Published in a journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
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Alexander O. Averyanov others2024. Asia's last ceratopsid: a new noasaurid dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous Siberian Great Refuge. Proc. R. Soc. B 291 (2023): 20240537; doi: 10.1098/rspb.2024.0537
Source: www.sci.news
