The artifacts found in Argentina of a vicious dinosaur with a large head covered with bumps and crests reminiscent of gargoyle provide insight into the emergence of some of the Earth’s largest carnivorous dinosaurs including the tendency to crave intellectual arms. Scientists said on Thursday they found several fossils in the northern part of Patagonia of a previously unknown species called Meraxesgigas, including the skull of a large dinosaur-eating dinosaur. Meraxes, which lived about 90 million years ago during the Cretaceous Period, were about 11,000 feet [11-12 m] long and weighed over 9,000 pounds (4 tons).
All carnivorous dinosaurs were part of a bipedal assemblage called theropods. Meraxes was a member of the theropod genus called carcharodontosaurs – called shark-shaped dinosaurs – which included the even greater Giganotosaurus, also from Patagonia, and Carcharodontosaurus, Africa.The skull of the Meraxes was over 4 feet (127 cm) long, according to biologist Juan Ignacio Canale of the Argentine research institute CONICET at the Ernesto Bachmann Paleontological Museum, lead author of research published in the journal Current Biology.
“Most of the facial bones and skulls were covered with bumps, bumps and ridges, making them look as ugly as a medieval gargoyle,” said University of Minnesota paleontologist and co-author Pete Makovicky. Meraxes, named after the dragon in the fairy tale “The Song of the Snow and Fire” that promoted the TV show “Game of Thrones,” had strong jaws full of 15-inch (15 inches) teeth and the largest toenails large theropods.
“It’s a scary sight,” said paleontologist and co-author of the study Sebastián Apesteguía of CONICET and the Felix de AzaraFoundation.Two other lines of the Cretaceous theropod – tyrannosaurs, consisting of T. The North American rex, as well as the abelisaurs, including the South American Carnotaurus – also changed strong arms.
Due to the imperfections of the remains of some of the largest carcharodontosaurs, Meraxes provided the first evidence of a reduction in the limbs in this group. Abelisaurs had four-fingered hands, while carcharodontosaurs reduced that to three and tyrannosaurs to two Scientists have wondered why the three most important theropod groups independently change short arms that can be used sparingly. All three showed a tendency to increase the size of the head and a decrease in the size of the forelegs, which increased the dependence of the head hole for deer, said the researchers.
Although small in size, Meraxes’ arms were strong and muscular.”Despite their strong appearance, it is hard to imagine that they are used so much as they pass out of the body and can reach the big mouth,” Makovickysaid.”I tend to think they were used for other types of activities, such as holding the female during mating or helping to lift the body from the slope,” added Canle.Other generations of large theropods did not join the practice. The giant Spinosaurus, with a long skull used to hunt deer, had medium-sized arms. Strange Therizinosaurus and Deinocheirus, whose diet differed from other theropods, boasted long arms and large claws.
Carcharodontosaurs reached their peak in the last 90 million years, then suddenly disappeared. Merax are not the largest of the genealogy but their remains are the largest carcharodontosaurs, almost all of the skull, waist and limbs – filling in the gaps in this group’s direction. For example, based on the size of the Meraxes skull, researchers calculated the skull of the Giganotosaurus skull by 5-1 / 2 feet (168 cm). Giganotosaurus, the largest of these genealogies, was a little taller but less constructed like the Tyrannosaurus rex, which lived tens of millions of years later.
