New fossil carnivorous dinosaurs discovered in South America

The fossil of a lion-sized carnivorous dinosaur, which specializes in eating smaller species of it, was discovered in a volcanic valley in Venezuela.

The researchers say this finding will help them better understand the evolution of carnivorous dinosaurs.

The fossil of the Tachiraptor admirabilis dinosaur was unearthed in the northernmost region of the Andes, or Venezuela's western border. Although only the shin bone and part of the pelvis were found, it was enough for scientists to determine the size of this dinosaur. Compared to the larger relatives later, they are relatively small with a body length of only 1.5-2m.

This is the first carnivorous dinosaur fossil excavated in Venezuela. According to the study's lead author, Max Langer, a vertebrate palaeontologist from the University of Sao Paulo (Brazil), the name of the Tachiraptor admirabilis is made of three words: Táchira, the name of a Venezuelan state. fossil detection place; raptor, Latin means "thief" and admirabilis, taken from the " Admirable Campaign" of the revolutionary Simón Bolívar to free Venezuela from Spain's dominance, which is also a campaign La Grita town near where fossils are found plays a strategic role.

These fossil bones have a life span of about 200 million years, meaning that the dinosaurs lived during the early Jurassic period, when dinosaurs gradually took over the position of dominating the globe.

Tachiraptor admirabilis.(Source: LiveScience)

When the Tachiraptor is still alive on Earth, Venezuela is part of Pangea supercontinent, gathering all the world's continents before the continental drift. At that time, Pangea began the process of separation, and the valley where the fossil record was discovered had a river flowing between the patches of forest, which is also the site of many volcanic activities.

Almost no fossil bones of any dinosaur were discovered in South America. The only case is the Laquintasaura venezuelae herbivorous dinosaur that runs on two legs and is the size of a fox. This may be Tachiraptor's prey, because according to Langer, Tachiraptor eats any prey they hunt, from small dinosaurs to smaller vertebrates like lizards.

Predatory dinosaurs, including Tyrannosaurs and bird ancestors, are often classified as Averostra. However, after analyzing Tachiraptor's shin bone, scientists assumed that they belonged to a group of Averostra relatives. The finding also opens up the possibility that the equatorial band crosses the supercontinent Pangea plays a key role in the evolution of carnivorous dinosaurs.

"Pangea is similar in shape to a boomerang, and the Tachiraptor comes from the warmer region from the equator, which includes the northern region of South America, the south of North America and Africa," Langer said.

Researchers plan to return to Venezuela to find more fossil bone samples, as well as dig up rocky soil layers in Tanzania and Brazil to learn more about the distribution of dinosaurs globally. .

The dinosaurs appeared about 230 million years ago, at the end of the Triassic period, but their era only really began after the mass extinction event took place at the end of the Triassic era, destroying a series of reptile groups. It is likely to become a threat to them as well as at least half of the living things on Earth. But then, the dinosaurs were also destroyed by the extinction event that took place in the late Cretaceous period about 67 million years ago.