Posted on 05/21/2024 9:01:51 AM PDT by Red Badger
Welcome to the party, Koleken inakayali, we'll clap for you.
La Colonia Formation continues to deliver the new dinosaur goods.
Image credit: © Gabriel Díaz Yantén
Behold, the tiny arms of a new species of abelisaurid dinosaur, Koleken inakayali. Retrieved from La Colonia Formation in Patagonia, it dates back 70 million years and has an impressively miniature set of arms. Think T. rex’s were mini? You ain’t seen nothing yet.
The new tiny-armed species looks similar to the iconic “meat bull” Carnotaurus, made famous from Jurassic World and that love scene in Prehistoric Planet. Koleken is different, however, both in having unique skull features and a small size, and lacking the frontal horns seen on Carnotaurus.
Where it stands up to the meat bull is in its ridiculously tiny arms, a common trait among the abelisaurids. Carnotaurus was an efficient predator that’s thought to have used its bizarre tiny arms and specially adapted shoulder girdle to twirl flashes of blue when trying to impress a mate, but we don't yet know what Koleken used theirs for.
The partial Koleken skeleton retrieved from La Colonia Formation included several skull bones, almost all of its back bones, a complete hip, some tail bones, and two almost-complete legs. It’s not a bad haul considering that scientists recently described what might have been one of the largest animal ever to live from just a bit of jaw.
The new species name is derived from the language of the Tehuelche people of Central Patagonia, with Inakayal being the name of one of the last Tehuelche leaders. It lived around 70 million years ago, putting it in the same timeline as the miniature titanosaur Titanomachya gimenezi that was announced last month.
The discoveries were unearthed as part of a project looking into the end of the “age of dinosaurs” in Patagonia, which is funded by the National Geographic Society. The project is focusing on the last 15 million years of the Cretaceous Period, a period of geological time that’s historically been better studied in northern locales.
VIDEO AT LINK.....................
The partial Koleken inakayali skeleton retrieved in Patagonia. Image credit: © Gabriel Lio
Already, the project is providing insights into the landscape of dinosaurs in Patagonia during the Late Cretaceous Epoch, and this discovery adds to the argument that La Colonia Formation is of global significance as a dinosaur-bearing rock.
“This finding sheds light on the diversity of abelisaurid theropods in Patagonia right before the mass extinction event,” said Explorer Diego Pol in a statement emailed to IFLScience. “Our study also analyzes the evolution of abelisaurids and their relatives through time, and identifies pulses of accelerated rates of skull evolution in the Early Cretaceous. It expands what we know about abelisaurids living in this area during the Cretaceous Period and shows that they were more diverse than previously understood.”
The study is published in the journal Cladistics.
I bet you were.
Went out on a limb on that one, you did.
Good question..................
I was thinking of that cartoon with the T-rex trying to reach the toilet paper.
In South America you would think he could find a better arms dealer.
Is it really a new species if it dates back 70 million years?
It is newly discovered.
😎👍
You’re on a roll.
If the bones they found are shown in green how do they know what it’s arms were like? It could have had arms bigger than it’s legs.
Their mothers must have taken thalidomide.
Thanks Red Badger.
Yes! That’s the one. Thanks.
Paleontologists, like anthropologists, aren’t averse to making stuff up. Papers need to be published. Grants need to be promoted.
“How do they infer vestigial arms from that assemblage...?”
I suspect scientists have other KNOWN T. rex samples wherein muscle insertions on nearby bones can be measured. The size and placement can direct a researcher to a reasonable hypothesis.
Comparing KNOWNS is a well-known technique in science and why scientists keep collections.
Forensic anthropologists can observe features of human skulls and pelvises to put a sex, an age, and the person’s race to an unidentified skeleton.
Fossilization only occurs very rarely and as the chance result of a string of specific conditions. Far and away the vast majority of all animals that die are eaten by animals or bacteria and don’t leave a trace.
And as this discovery shows, only a small fraction of the earth’s surface has been excavated in search of fossils. It could be there are more yet to be discovered than have already been found.
As far as that goes, the same could be said for oil. Anybody who says they know how much crude is still in the earth is guessing at best.
I believe it has been reported that T Rex had a very large well developed space in the skull indicating excellent smell ability. I think I read about the capacity to smell rotting carrion that was 20 miles away. Also the long legs enabled rapid travel to a dead body.
According to the Natural History Museum (NY City) the wear and tear on the teeth suggested a carrion eater rather than a predator. They display showed a life-sized T-Rex scavenging a dead herbivore.
Interesting theory ... how long are the arms on sharks, crocodiles, komodo dragons, or snakes? You just have to be faster than your prey. I'm sure they ate carrion too, but outside of vultures, I can't think of anything that is a pure carrion eater.
They found tiny little bracelets nearby.
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