The world's oldest stegosaurus fossil has been found

Reference News Network reported on August 22 that British media said that the world's oldest stegosaurus fossil was found in the mountains of Morocco.

According to the British "Guardian" website reported on August 20, this new stegosaurus species was named "Adratiklit boulahfa", which means "mountain lizard" in the local Berber language, a name that reflects the fossil out of the land.

According to the British Museum of Natural History, this dinosaur lives dating back 168 million years.

The dinosaur reportedly left only a few vertebrae and upper arm bones, but enough for paleontologists to discern that it was a new species.

Fossil vertebrae of Stegosaurus found this time (British Museum of Natural History)

Suzanne Midmont, a paleontologist who studies fossils, said the discovery of the "Adratiklit boulahfa" stegosaurus fossils was interesting because it belonged to the second era of the Jurassic period, the middle Jurassic period.

"Most known stegosaurs date back to the late Jurassic period, meaning 'Adratiklit boulahfa' stegosaurs are the oldest explicitly described stegosaurus, which will help expand our understanding of the evolution of this dinosaur," Midmont said. ”

In the past, it was believed that the Earth was divided into two continents, the Ancient Continent of Lauya and the Ancient Continent of Gondwana, and the armored dinosaur (Thyreophora) to which Stegosaurus belonged was more common in the Ancient Continent of Lauya.

However, recent findings contradict this theory. Midmont believes this means that armored dinosaurs may also be found in places that have not been excavated so far.