<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > dinosaur named after a mythical monster because the fossil has three heads! </h1>
Oviraptorosaurs are no strangers to us, this is a type of dinosaur that is generally not very large (except for a few species such as megalopods), but full of feathers, like a large turkey. Recently, a new species of oviraptorosaur was named, which not only had its characteristic two fingers, but also had fossils that were found in many hugs.
The name comes from mythological monsters
In October 2020, a paper titled "A new two-fingered dinosaur sheds light on the radiation of Oviraptorosauria" was published in the journal Royal Society Open Science, describing a new class of oviraptorosauria. Three-headed eagle dragon (Oksoko).
The genus name of the three-headed eagle comes from the three-headed eagle in Altai mythology, because this dinosaur found three fossilized individuals at once, and of course had three heads. The model species name of the three-headed eagle dragon is Oksoko avarsan, which is derived from mongolian because the fossils were seized from smugglers.
Note: The site where the fossil was found is located in the southern region of Mongolia, and the image comes from the network
Image note: The legendary three-headed eagle, picture from the internet
In fact, the fossils of the three-headed eagle dragon have long been discovered, and there is a twist and turning story behind it.
From smuggling to treasure
The fossils of the three-headed eagle dragon were found in the Gobi Desert inland Mongolia, which is a paradise for paleontologists, and countless dinosaur fossils have been found, including the famous Tyrannosaurus rex, Tyrannosaurus, Dinosaur, Sickleosaurus, Protoceraurus, Oviraptorosaurus and so on. After the fossils of the three-headed eagle dragon were discovered, they were not handed over to paleontologists, but were smuggled out of the country to prepare for a high price. It was at this time that law enforcement officers seized and confiscated the fossils, which is the source of the three-headed eagle-like breed name "Rescue".
Image note: Intercepted smuggled fossils, picture from the Internet
Since there are ready-made fossils, why not study it well, to know that the fossils that can be looked at by smugglers must be unusual. A team of paleontologists from the University of Alberta in Canada and paleontologists from the Mongolian Institute of Paleontology and Geology began to study the fossils.
The earliest official disclosure of fossils was made on August 25, 2017, at the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology. At the conference, Dr. Gregory Funsto from the University of Alberta in Canada introduced the group of fossils from Mongolia and specifically showed that three dinosaurs sleeping together were preserved in the fossils.
Illustration: Fossil and fossil line diagram, you can see that there are three individuals, one of which is not complete, and the picture comes from the network
Photo note: The main researcher of the fossil, Gregory Fuston, picture from the network
When talking about fossils, Foster excitedly introduced: "This is a wonderful set of fossils that preserve the posture of animals when they were alive, including two complete skeletons and a skeleton that preserves a third of it, which is really incredible." ”（It's a fantastic specimen. It's rare to find a skeleton preserved in life position, so having two complete individuals and parts of a third is really incredible.）
Before the discovery of the three-headed eagle dragon fossil, only the fossil of Mei found in Liaoning Province, China, preserved the sleeping posture, while the dinosaur fossil from Mongolia not only maintained the sleeping position, but also three dinosaurs slept together! The discovery of fossils suggests that certain dinosaurs had the same habit of gathering together to rest as today's birds, with the advantage of being able to withstand cold and warn of the cold, a behavior known as "public habitat."
Today's birds will gather to rest, the picture comes from the network
Although the smuggled Mongolian dinosaur fossils attracted widespread attention and were of great significance, they were not named, and the study continued for more than three years, with paleontologists from the United Kingdom and Japan joining the research team until 2020.
An oviraptor dragon with two fingers
After specifically analyzing the fossils of three three-headed eagles, paleontologists found that they were all sub-adult individuals, and when these dinosaurs grew up, they should be able to reach nearly 2 meters in length and more than 1 meter in height, which was medium in the oviraptors. Like other oviraptorosaur dinosaurs, the three-headed eagle dragon had a high bony crown on its head, a mouth that became a hard beak similar to today's parrot, and no teeth in its mouth. The three-headed eagle dragon stood and walked on its long, robust hindlimbs, which were relatively short and probably used for grasping. The three-headed eagle dragon had feathers similar to those of today's birds, so it looked like a large bird, but the role of the feathers was not to fly, but to keep warm and show off.
Illustration: Skeletal line diagram of the three-headed eagle dragon, picture from the network
Image note: The skull and line diagram of the three-headed eagle dragon, picture from the network
In addition to the general characteristics of oviraptorosaurs, the three-headed eagle dragon has a unique feature, that is, there are only two fingers on the forelimbs, which is different from the common three-finger structure of oviraptors. This is the first time that only two fingers of the forelimb have been found in oviraptorosaurs, and the remaining third finger can be seen, and the disappearance of the third finger is an adaptive change in the forelimb, which may be due to changes in life habits or food choices. In addition, from the classification point of view, the three-headed eagle dragon belongs to the heyuanlongae subfamily (Heyuanninae) under the oviraptorosaur class, and the fossil of the heyuan dragon was found in Guangdong Province, China.
Illustration Note: A fossil of the hand of a three-headed eagle dragon with two big fingers and a remnant of the third finger is preserved, picture from the Internet
Image note: The three-headed eagle dragon can be seen in the restoration figure with only two fingers, and the picture comes from the network
Paleontologists speculate that the ancestors of the three-headed eagle dragon may have come from China, and there were many adaptive changes in body structure after a long migration to the Mongolian region. At the same time, fossils also prove that the three-headed eagle dragon was already social in its infancy and was a typical social dinosaur.
The discovery of the triangular eagle, which lived at the end of the Cretaceous period 68 million years ago, enriched the diversity of oviraptorosaurs before the arrival of the mass extinction, and the juvenile fossils found together also increased our understanding of the social behavior of oviraptorosaurs.
Resources:
1. Easter, J. (2013). "A new name for the oviraptorid dinosaur "Ingenia" yanshini (Barsbold, 1981; preoccupied by Gerlach, 1957)". Zootaxa. 3737 (2): 184–190. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.3737.2.6. PMID 25112747.
2.Lü, J. (2005). Oviraptorid dinosaurs from Southern China. Beijing: Geological Publishing House. ISBN 7-116-04368-3. 200 pages + 8 plates. (In Chinese: pp 1-83, including 36 figures & 3 tables. In English: pp 85-200, including 5 geological figures.)
Image / Network (Intrusion and Deletion)
Text / Jiang's Little Thief Dragon (Jiang Hong)
Typography / Jiang's Little Thief Dragon