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Fossils discovered in South America could rewrite the history of duck-billed dinosaurs

Recently, the discovery of a number of dinosaur fossils from the Patagonia region in the southern part of Chile and Argentina has changed the researchers’ understanding of how duck-billed dinosaurs conquered the Cretaceous world. Duck-billed dinosaurs or hadrosaurs lived in most of the continents of the earth at the end of the Cretaceous period, which is the third period of the Mesozoic era, about 66 million years ago.

Now, to the report Science News websiteIn a new study, researchers have discovered that an apparently older lineage of hadrosaurs was widely present in the south of this continent about 72 million years ago, millions of years before other hadrosaurs arrived in South America. Jonathan Alarcon Munoz “This research is another chapter in the dispersal of these dinosaurs, something we were unaware of,” said the paleontologist from the University of Chile in Santiago.

About a decade ago, Marcelo Lepe A paleontologist from the Antarctic Institute of Chile in Punta Arenas was searching for plant fossils in the Rio de las Chinas valley in the Magallanes region of Chile when he saw the fossilized bones. After these fossils are noticed Alexander Vargasattracted paleontologists from the University of Chile, researchers extracted the found fossils for further study.

Alarcon Munoz, Vargas, cotyledons and other colleagues recognized that these bones belong to a new species of duckbill dinosaurs; Herbivorous giants with wide snouts similar to geese. The discovered remains included fragments of many body parts such as pelvis, limbs, ribs, vertebrae and skull.

Researchers name the discovered creature Nano Gunkoken they put In the language of the indigenous people of Onnikank (part of southern Patagonia), where the bones were found, “gun” means “similar” and “koken” means “wild duck or swan.”


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