Argentina scientists unearth dinosaur with 'puny arms' and hard head
Dinosaur probably belongs to carnivorous group called abelisaurs and may have used its head to ram its prey
Reuters in Buenos Aires
Fri 25 Feb 2022 17.56 EST
Scientists in Argentina have unearthed the remains of a previously unknown species of meat-eating dinosaur that lived about 70m years ago that had puny arms and may have used its powerful head to ram its prey.
The fossil skull of the Cretaceous period dinosaur, named Guemesia ochoai, was discovered in Argentina’s north-western Salta province. The researchers said it likely belongs to a carnivorous group of dinosaurs called abelisaurs, which walked on two legs and possessed only stub-like arms, even shorter than those of North America’s Tyrannosaurus rex.
The short arms may have forced Guemesia to rely on its powerful skull and jaws, the researchers said.
“It’s so unique and so different from other carnivorous dinosaurs, which allows us to understand that we’re dealing with a totally new species,” Federico Agnolin, lead author of a study on the dinosaur published in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology and a researcher with Argentine national science council Conicet, told Reuters.
More:
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2022/feb/25/argentina-dinosaur-fossil-skull-guemesia-ochoai
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The abelisaurid C. sastrei. (Andrey Atuchin/Wikimedia Commons/CC BY 4.0)
Newly Discovered Dinosaur From Argentina Belongs to a Rather 'Armless' Family
CARLY CASSELLA 21 FEBRUARY 2022
Paleontologists in Argentina have identified a new species of dinosaur which likely had such feeble forearms, it would make Tyrannosaurus rex look like Popeye in comparison.
The dinosaur, named Guemesia ochoai and identified from a single skull, is thought to belong to a clade of tiny-armed carnivores known as abelisaurids, which once tramped across Europe, Africa, South America, and India before they went extinct about 66 million years ago.
The skull of G. ochoai is the only one of its kind to be found in northwest Argentina and it's about 70 million years old. Unlike other abelisaurids, its braincase is 'remarkably small'.
In fact, it's one of the smallest-brained abelisaurids recorded to date – 70 percent the size of the famous Carnotaurus genus, which lived at the southern tip of South America and was recently featured in Jurassic World.
More:
https://www.sciencealert.com/if-you-thought-t-rex-had-small-arms-check-out-this-new-dinosaur
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