{"id":15048,"date":"2022-07-07T17:01:42","date_gmt":"2022-07-07T15:01:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sciencefocus.com\/?p=123283"},"modified":"2022-07-07T17:20:17","modified_gmt":"2022-07-07T15:20:17","slug":"newly-discovered-dinosaur-has-tiny-arms-like-a-t-rex-but-the-two-species-lived-20-million-years-apart","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/rss_feed\/newly-discovered-dinosaur-has-tiny-arms-like-a-t-rex-but-the-two-species-lived-20-million-years-apart\/","title":{"rendered":"Newly discovered dinosaur has tiny arms like a T. rex \u2013 but the two species lived 20 million years apart"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Amy Barrett\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Thursday, 07 July 2022 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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Scientists have unearthed the fossil of a new species of dinosaur<\/a> in northern Patagonia, Argentina. The dinosaur, named\u00a0Meraxes gigas<\/em>, was a giant, carnivorous dinosaur<\/a> with short arms, like the well-known\u00a0Tyrannosaurus rex<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The dinosaur is a member of the Carcharodontosauridae family, one of at least four of the big predator theropods who evolved \u2013 separately \u2013 disproportionally small forelimbs. The skeleton found was about 11 metres long, and weighed more than four tons.<\/p>\n

No one knows the exact function of these dinosaurs\u2019 arms, but those who found the new Meraxes<\/em>\u00a0fossil say they were probably used for non-predatory activities, like supporting movement or to hold one another during mating.<\/p>\n

\u201cMeraxes<\/em> was a top predator at its time,\u201d said Juan Canale, the project lead at Ernesto Bachmann Paleontological Museum. \u201cThey were carnivorous dinosaurs, and they fed on herbivorous dinosaurs, likely titanosaurs and rebbachisaurids.\u201d<\/p>\n

The dinosaur found by Canale and team was around 45 years old, a fully grown adult. The dinosaur\u2019s skull revealed bumps and small hornlets, which Canale says would appear in Meraxes<\/em> once they reached maturity, and might have been used to attract a mate.<\/p>\n

The species name was chosen by the researchers. It is called \u2018Meraxes\u2019, after a dragon from the George RR Martin book series that inspired Game Of Thrones<\/em>, and \u2018gigas\u2019, which is Greek for giant, due to its large size.<\/p>\n

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The evacuation site in Patagonia, Argentina, where the new Meraxes gigas<\/em> fossil was found<\/span><\/figcaption> \u00a9 Juan Canale<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n

The carcharodontosaurids were dominant predators, and lived on most continents during the Early Cretaceous, considered to be sometime between 145 and 100 million years ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe group flourished and reached a peak of diversity shortly before they became extinct [in the Late Cretaceous period],\u201d said Canale. This was some 20 million years before the first T. rex<\/em>. The two species are so far apart on the family tree that the tiny arms would have evolved separately for some survival advantage, rather than because arms were useless to the dinosaurs.<\/p>\n

Canale is convinced that those proportionally tiny arms had some sort of function, as the skeleton shows evidence of large muscles and developed pecs. The arms were strong, but they weren\u2019t used for fighting, said Canale.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Finding the fossil] was probably one of the most exciting points of my career,\u201d Canale said. \u201cIt has a lot of novel information, and it is in superb shape. We will now keep working on this material, describing in detail the bones and performing CT scans to see internal spaces\u2026 there is much work to do!\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more about Tyrannosaurus rex<\/em>:<\/strong><\/p>\n