A team of Spanish and Argentinian scientists has discovered the remnants of a previously unknown dinosaur species that lived 110-million-years ago in Argentina. During the excavation, researchers discovered three separate members of the new species, an adult and two juveniles.
The new dinosaur has been named Lavocatisaurus agrioensis and these herbivorous creatures belonged to Sauropods saurischian clade of dinosaurs which had long necks, small heads and long tails.
"We found most of the cranial bones: the snout, the jaws, a lot of teeth, also the bones that define the eye sockets for example and, in that way, we were able to create an almost complete reconstruction. Not only is this the discovery of a new species in an area where you wouldn't expect to find fossils, but the skull is almost complete," Jose Luis Carballido, a researcher at the Egidio Feruglio museum told Agence France-Presse.
Initial analysis revealed that the adult dinosaur might be more than 12 meters in length, while the juveniles were between six and seven meters long. As per the researchers, these newly discovered dinosaurs might have moved around in the ancient days and have died together due to adverse circumstances.
Researchers believe that the harsh weather conditions in this desert area where flora and water were insufficient might have contributed to their death.
"While one can imagine that this group of sauropods could have adapted to move in more arid environments, with little vegetation, little humidity and little water, it's an area in which you wouldn't be looking for fossils," said Carballido.
Sauropods are widely touted to be the largest animal ever walked on the surface of the earth. Known for their gigantic size, many species within this group weighed more than 40 tons. A species named Argentinosaurus is considered the heaviest ones among this group, and it likely weighed more than 80 tonnes.
A few weeks ago, researchers discovered 80-million-year old relative of Tyrannosaurus Rex in New Mexico named Dynamoterror. It should be noted that Dymanoterror had a slightly different bone structure when compared to T-Rex dinosaurs and they lived millions of years before T-Rex started ruling the planet.
