.NEW DINOSAUR
Phylum : Chordata
Class : Reptilia
Superorder : Dinosauria
Order : Saurischia
Infraorder : Sauropoda
Genus : Brontomerus
Species : Brontomerus mcintoshi
Palaeontologists claim to have discovered the newest member of the dinosaurs- Brontomerus mcintoshi.It is a sauropod Dinosaur which lived during the early Cretaceous (approximately 110 million years ago). It has bony plate that projects from the hip bone. This plate serves as an anchor for the Dinosaur's leg muscles.
An international team which spotted the remains of the creature in the American state of Utah saysthey have generated a computer image of the species also.
The new dinosaur had substantially powerful hind legs, the most muscular legs of any Sauropod! These legs were so powerful, in fact, that scientists gave it the name Brontomerus, which means "Thunder Thighs"(from Greek bronte meaning "thunder", and merós meaning "thigh"). The species name is in honor of John "Jack" Stanton McIntosh, a retired physicist at Wesleyan University, Connecticut, and lifelong advocational paleontologist.
The fossils were recovered from a locality known at the Hotel Mesa Quarry in easternmost Grand County, Utah. The site had been previously known to private collectors, who had already removed a considerable number of fossils, some of which may have been scientifically valuable. Exposed bones that remained were in various states of disrepair: some had even been broken and their pieces used to hold down a plastic tarpaulin.
Brontomerus is known from two fragmentary specimens differing in size, likely a juvenile and an adult. Other recovered fossils include a crushed presacral centrum, several caudal vertebrae, a right-side dorsal rib, a large scapula, and two partial sternal plates. The adult specimen is thought to have weighed around six tons, and probably measured around fourteen meters in length. The juvenile specimen weighed around 200 kilograms and measured 4.5 meters in length.
Its assignment to a new species is based on several noteworthy autapomorphies, including an oddly-shaped hipbone which would have permitted the attachment of unusually massive leg muscles. This unique ilium would have given it the largest leg muscles of any sauropod dinosaur.The ilium is unusual in being very deep and having a front part that is much larger than the part behind the hip socket.
Dr. Michael Taylor, one of the dinosaur's describers, theorizes that that for fast movement, the strong muscles would be oriented at the back of the leg to pull it along, but the actual positioning of the muscles indicates they were more likely used to deliver a kick. This is due to the apparent anchoring of large femoral protraction muscles, which would have been used to move the leg forward powerfully.
It was the eighth discovery of remains from a member of that species in North America and there are expected to be more in the future. The team believes it will find more as the number of dinosaurs within the land mass did not decline significantly at the end of the Jurassic period. The findings have been published in the latest edition of the Acta Palaeontologica Polonica journal.
Source : http://animaladay.blogspot.com/2011/02/brontomerus-mcintoshi.html, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brontomerus
A new recruit to Dinosorium!:)
ReplyDeletePlease remove word verification to enable reader to comment easily...