"A tiny plant-eating dinosaur that was about the same size of a chicken and occupied what's now northern Spain some 125 million years ago is baffling scientists. The Early Cretaceous creature is described in a new paper published on Sunday in Papers in Paleontology. The dinosaur, Foskeia pelendonumnamed for the Greek words for light and foragingwas about half a meter long, with an unusual skull and teeth that suggest a novel mode of feeding behavior, the authors write."
"Its anatomy is weird in precisely the kind of way that rewrites evolutionary trees, said Penelope Cruzado-Caballero, an associate professor at the University of La Laguna in Spain and an author of the paper, in a statement. The growth trajectory of F. pelendonum compared with an adult chicken. The new species could help paleontologists better understand the lineage of the ornithischians, or bird-hipped dinosaurs."
Foskeia pelendonum lived in what is now northern Spain about 125 million years ago during the Early Cretaceous. The animal measured roughly half a meter and was about the size of a chicken. Skull and tooth morphology indicate an unusual mode of plant feeding not previously described in similar dinosaurs. The anatomy departs from expected ornithopod features and has implications for reconstructing ornithischian evolutionary relationships. Comparisons of growth trajectory with an adult chicken reveal distinct developmental patterns. The minute size of the fossil bones emphasizes exceptional small body size and aids understanding of early ornithischian diversity.
Read at www.scientificamerican.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]