NFL QB Mike Glennon
Posted on 11/21/2018 2:09:37 PM PST by ETL
A new species of sauropod dinosaur that stretched 39 feet (12 m) from head to tail has been unearthed in Patagonia, Argentina
Dubbed Lavocatisaurus agrioensis, the new dinosaur is thought to have lived approximately 110 million years ago (Cretaceous period).
The creature was a type of sauropod, a group of huge plant-eating dinosaurs that includes the largest animals ever to walk the Earth.
One adult and two immature specimens of Lavocatisaurus agrioensis were recovered near the locality of Agrio del Medio, a small town in the central part of the province of Neuquén, Patagonia.
“We found most of the skull bones of Lavocatisaurus agrioensis: the snout, the jaws, a lot of teeth, also the bones that define the orbit of the eyes for example and, in that way, we were able to do a very complete reconstruction,” said Dr. José Luis Carballido, a paleontologist at the CONICET-Egidio Feruglio Museum.
“In addition, parts of the neck, tail and back of this species were found.”
The paleontologists estimate that adult Lavocatisaurus agrioensis grew to about 39 feet long, while juveniles were around 20-23 feet (6-7 m) long.
“The discovery was made in the center of the Argentinean province of Neuquén,” Dr. Carballido said.
“At that site, 110 million years ago, the environment was very desert, with sporadic lagoons, so we were surprised to find the fossils there.”
“Although it is estimated that this group of sauropods could have been adapted to move in rather arid environments, with low vegetation, with little humidity and little water, it is an environment in which one would not be looking for fossils.”
“The same aridity of the environment indicates that the fossil remains of these three individuals were not displaced and gathered next to a waterway, but that they moved in groups and died together.”
(Excerpt) Read more at sci-news.com ...
Looks like I was off by 10 or so million years.
“Giganotosaurus is a genus of theropod dinosaur that lived in what is now Argentina, during the early Cenomanian age of the Late Cretaceous period, approximately 98 to 97 million years ago.
The holotype specimen was discovered in the Candeleros Formation of Patagonia in 1993, and is almost 70% complete.” Wikipedia
For a long time, Tyrannosaurus rex — “king of the dinosaurs” — was thought to be the largest carnivorous dinosaur. Today, Giganotosaurus is believed to have been slightly larger than T. rex, though even Giganotosaurus ranks behind Spinosaurus in size among the meat-eating dinosaurs.
Did these critters produce live-birth young, or did they hatch from eggs, like gators, turtles and such?
NFL QB Mike Glennon
Yeah, even a blind jihadi can't miss that. You could have five guys going at it at once.
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