The right side of the skull of the "Inner Mongolian Butterfly Hunting Dragon" is viewed. Photo courtesy of Institute of Paleovertebrate Vertebrate, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Beijing, November 2 (Reporter Sun Zifa) reporter learned from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Institute of Paleovertebrates of the Chinese Academy of Sciences) on the 2nd that the institute cooperated with the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Geological Survey Research Institute (formerly the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Geological Environment Monitoring Institute) and other units to find a new genus of fossils of dinosaurs in bayannaoer City, Inner Mongolia, named " Inner Mongolian Butterfly Hunting Dragon".
This important research paper on dinosaurs, jointly completed by Pei Rui, Zhao Qi, Xu Xing and researchers from the cooperative units of the Institute of Paleovertebrates of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, has recently been published online in the international professional academic journal "Cretaceous Research".
The phylogenetic location of the butterfly shape of "Inner Mongolia Butterfly Hunting Dragon". Photo courtesy of Institute of Paleovertebrate Vertebrate, Chinese Academy of Sciences
According to the scientific research team, the dinosaurs of the plesiosaur family are a class of small and medium-sized theropod dinosaurs, which are closely related to birds, and together with ornithopters and chilong dinosaurs constitute near-bird dinosaurs, therefore, the study of odontocarposaurus dinosaurs is of great significance to understand the specific details of the evolution process of non-avian dinosaurs to birds.
The discovery of a new genus of dinosaurs in the family Diplodocus , " Inner Mongolian Butterfly " , suggests that the late Cretaceous Northeastern Asia terrestrial biota is more diverse and complex than previously thought, and is of great significance for understanding the evolutionary patterns of dinosaurs in the near-bird dinosaurs and the paleoecological and paleopreliological history of the Late Cretaceous period in Northeast Asia.
The fossil orthotype specimen of "Inner Mongolia Butterfly Hunting Dragon" consists of a basically intact skull and partially associated posterior skull, collected by the Geological and Environmental Monitoring Institute of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region during a survey of the Ulansu Sea Formation strata of the Bayin Manduhu Late Cretaceous Kampa Formation in 2016-2017. After comparative study, it was found that its morphological characteristics, especially the morphology of the skull and vertebral body, were different from other known members of the family " Ornitosaurus " , representing a new taxon of ambulatanosaurus , a more advanced group of small-bodied brachycephalicosaurs. Because its anterior dorsal spine spines are expanded to the lateral front, it looks like a unique butterfly from the dorsal side, so it is named "Inner Mongolian Butterfly Hunting Dragon".
According to the scientific research team, the "Inner Mongolian Butterfly Hunting Dragon" is the seventh species of wounded toothed dragon named after the Kampa Order in the Gobi Basin, and the second species of Late Cretaceous alligatory toothed toothed dragon named. Bone histology studies have shown that the growth rate of the positive specimen of "Inner Mongolian Butterfly Hunting Dragon" has begun to decrease, indicating that the individual was in a sub-adult stage at the time of death.
"Inner Mongolian Butterfly Hunting Dragon" butterfly-shaped dorsal vertebrae. Photo courtesy of Institute of Paleovertebrate Vertebrate, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Based on the results of phylogenetic analysis, it has been found that all the Late Cretaceous wounded toothed dragons constitute a more advanced monophyletic taxon in the family " Pterosodondae " , " Inner Mongolian Butterfly Hunting " is located near the base of this monophyletic taxa , only a little later than the "Almas dragon" reported in the Late Cretaceous of Mongolia , both are the only short-snouted representatives of known Late Cretaceous wounded toothosaur dinosaurs, and their skull features combine the basic outline of the earlier differentiated Early Cretaceous Wounded Toothosaurus and other detailed skeletal features of late Cretaceous wounded toothosaurs.
Comparative studies also found that the late Cretaceous Campa class of the Gobi Basin had a large difference in head and forelimb morphology, indicating that the toothed dragons in the limited geographical area of this period may have shown some differences in feeding strategies. (End)
Source: China News Network