მეცნიერებმა ახალი სახეობის დინოზავრი აღმოაჩინეს

ფრანგმა და ბელგიელმა მეცნიერებმა დინოზავრების ახალი სახეობა -  Matheronodon provincialis-ი აღმოაჩინეს. მკვლევრებმა ცხოველის ნარჩენები საფრანგეთის სამხრეთით იპოვეს. Matheronodon-ი Rhabdodontidae-ების ბალახისმჭამელ ოჯახს მიაკუთვნეს, რომლებიც ყველა კონტინენტზე ბინადრობდნენ. 

Matheronodon provincialis-ს მაკრატლის მსგავსი ყბა ჰქონდა. მისი საშუალებით დინოზავრი უხებ ბოჭკოვან ფოთლებსა და ფესვებს ჭამდა. მეცნიერები ვარაუდობენ, რომ დინოზავრი იკვებებოდა იმ მცენარეებით, რომლებიც სხვა ბალახისმჭამელებს არ მოსწონდათ.

პალეონტოლოგების ცნობით, Matheronodon provincialis-ის სიმაღლე 5 მეტრს აღწევდა. 

 

A team of Belgian and French palaeontologists has described a new dinosaur species that had scissor-like teeth. The fossil remains of Matheronodon provincialis – a primitive cousin of Iguanodon – were discovered in the South of France, during a ‘paleotrip’ of @rbinsmuseum. Velaux-La Bastide Neuve, north west of Marseille, is a site with sediments from the Late Cretaceous that was only discovered in 1992. Our Museum organised two ‘paleotrips’ there – in 2009 and in 2012 – resulting in hundreds of fossils: dinosaurs, pterosaurs (flying reptiles), crocodiles and turtles. Notably, palaeontologists and volunteers found a jawbone and teeth from what now appears to be a new dinosaur species. In a study in the journal Scientific Reports the palaeontologists – some of them of @rbinsmuseum and @vubrussel – named it Matheronodon provincialis, after Philippe Matheron who in 1869 was the first to describe remains of Rhabdodontidae. This is a group of herbivore dinosaurs that also includes this new species. ‘M. provincialis was a primitive relative of Iguanodon’, says our colleague Pascal Godefroit. The new species lived around 70 million years ago and grew up to 5 metres long. It had an alimentary regime that was very specialized. It had few, but extremely enlarged teeth, up to 6 cm long and 5 cm wide. They operated like self-sharpening serrated scissors. ‘The denture of this group had evolved in a different direction than that of their contemporaries, the hadrosaurs or duck-billed dinosaurs’, Godefroit concludes. ‘Hadrosaurs had sophisticated dental ‘batteries’ formed by little teeth with which they could crush conifers. Matheronodon and the other Rhabdodontidae probably ate leaves of palm trees, which were abundant in Europe at that time. They had to cut rather than crush the fibre-rich leaves, before they could swallow them.’ [📷 artistic reconstruction by Lukas Panzarin; pictures by Thierry Hubin, RBINS) #dinosaurs #naturalsciencesbrussels #herbivore #teeth #scissors #cretaceous #provence #france #fossils #fossil #fossilfriday

A post shared by rbinsmuseum (@rbinsmuseum) on Oct 26, 2017 at 6:43am PDT