Fossil discovery of new dinosaurs

Archaeologists have excavated fossils of new grass-eating dinosaurs in the Cretaceous Period.

Researchers at the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in Utah, USA discovered a new dinosaur, called Machairoceratops cronusi .

Fossils of new dinosaurs excavated in the US state of Utah, Southwest.

Simulation of new dinosaurs Machairoceratops cronusi.

Based on the skeleton structure, the scientists identified a huge size Machairoceratops with a length of 5.8 - 7.9m and weighs about 1-2 tons. It has horns, bird beaks, ancient shields and belongs to ceratopsids Centrosaurine herbivores .

"Machairoceratops is the only species that possesses two large and curved horns that extend forward to the back of the neck. Each part is separated by a special groove that extends from the root to the top of the horn. It is unclear what the effect of this composition is. " Erik Lund, the leader of the new fossil detection team, said.

According to archaeologist Patrick O'Connor, the discovery of herbivorous dinosaurs in the United States made the team quite surprised because they are normally found in places like Alaska and Montana.

Machairoceratops resides in the southern continent of Laramidia, North America about 77 million years ago, during the Cretaceous period. Earlier, the main species of dinosaurs lived in northern Laramidia.

The difference in habitat caused the same dinosaurs to eat grass but divided into two groups with different evolutionary processes.

Polite findings are published in the scientific journal Plos One.