A new dinosaur species has been discovered in Spain. The discovery may indicate that titanosaurs migrated to Europe at the end of the Cretaceous period.
Madrid – Although one might think that the greatest mysteries of the prehistoric era have already been solved, continuous discoveries continue to reveal surprising facts that reshape our understanding of history. Recently, the Most extensive known animal genome decodedwhich scientists say will help to understand how the ancestors of today’s land vertebrates conquered the land mass. But new discoveries are also constantly being made in the world of dinosaurs.
New dinosaur species found in Spain – animation shows the huge dimensions
A previously unknown dinosaur species was recently discovered in Spain, as the trade journal Nature Communications Biology reportedTo put it in technical jargon: “A new lithostrotiat titanosaur (…) is described from a single partial skeleton from the late Campanian-early Maastrichtian fossil site of Lo Hueco (Cuenca, Spain). This new taxon is supported by an exclusive combination of characters.”
The discovered titanosaur lived on the Iberian Peninsula around 75 million years ago. The gigantic herbivore was around 20 metres long and weighed 15 tonnes and was described in detail. The animal was reconstructed using a computer image – the images show that a human being looks tiny compared to this dinosaur and does not even reach its shoulder.
Discovery provides important new insights shortly before dinosaur extinction
The newly discovered species could provide important information about the dinosaurs shortly before their extinction about 66 million years ago, according to Spanish and Portuguese researchers. They stress that the existence of this species in Spain suggests that Europe “was a melting pot of native and immigrant sauropods during the Late Cretaceous,” an assumption that has not been made until now.
Francisco Ortega, one of the study’s co-authors, explained: “Until now, it was thought that almost all European titanosaurs belonged to the native Lirainosaurus genus, which evolved in isolation in Europe from the end of the Cretaceous until its extinction.” However, the current find suggests that titanosaurs, which are related to Asian and North American dinosaurs, migrated to Europe at the end of the Cretaceous.
Character from “Don Quixote” served as the name
The fossils, which were given the name “Qunkasaura pintiquiniestra,” were discovered in the Lo Hueco archaeological site, about 200 kilometers southeast of Madrid. The name is made up of the place where they were found, the province of Cuenca, and “Saura,” which alludes to both the Latin word for “lizard” and the artist Antonio Saura. “Pintiquiniestra” is the name of a giant queen from the book “Don Quixote” by Miguel de Cervantes. Ortega emphasized at the release that it is one of the most complete sauropod skeletons ever found in Europe, as the dpa reports.
Since its discovery in 2007 during excavations for the Spanish high-speed railway, Lo Hueco has established
itself as one of the most important Upper Cretaceous paleontological sites in Europe. More than 12,000 fossils have been unearthed there, including those of turtles and crocodiles. Ortega described the site as a textbook on European Upper Cretaceous sauropods. Paleontologists hope to use the remains to learn more about living conditions at that time. Ortega stressed that there is still much to discover, adding: “We know that there are remains of at least one more specimen in Cuenca.”
Recently, a new dinosaur species was discovered in Kyrgyzstan found. Their special feature: a characteristic eyebrow. If you want to see the giants up close, you can Take a detour to a dinosaur park. (jh/dpa)
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