168 million years ago, during the Middle Jurassic, the Bashanousaurus primitivusa new type of stegosaurus, which is the oldest found in Asia and one of the oldest unearthed in the world.
stegosaurs they are one of the most recognizable dinosaur species, with large dorsal plates, long spikes on their tails and a tiny head. So far 14 species have been identified and their remains have been found on every continent except Antarctica and Australia.
A team of British and Chinese researchers have identified a new species, Bashanousaurus primitivus, as described in the academic journal Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.
Stegosaurus could have originated in Asia, suggests the study, which puts the remains of Bashanosaurus primitivus at 168 million years old, corresponding to the Lower Jurassic stage of the Middle Jurassic, much earlier than most of its known congeners.
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The remains, of which it is not known if they are from an adult or young specimen, they draw a relatively small dinosaur, about 2.8 meters from nose to tailand back, shoulder, thigh, foot, and rib bones have been found, as well as various armor plates.
The new dinosaur has different characteristics from the rest of the stegosaurus, like thicker, narrower back plates, but shows similarities to early armored dinosaurswhich are 20 million years older.
Researchers from the Natural History Museum in London and the Office of Geological and Mineral Resources Exploration and Development in Chongqing, China, dThey stressed that this new specimen contributes to discovering how stegosaurs evolved, about which, to date, little is known..
“The discovery of this Middle Jurassic stegosaurus from China adds to a growing body of evidence that the group evolved in the early Middle Jurassic, or perhaps even the Early Jurassic, and as such represent some of the earliest dinosaurs. known to eat birds,” said Susannah Maidment of the Natural History Museum in London. (I)
Source: Eluniverso
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