近距离内射合集

For 12 years, scientists thought a fossil found in the San Juan Basin belonged to a small raptor-like dinosaur. They were wrong 鈥� and the real answer just earned New Mexico a new dinosaur species.

Paleontologists from the New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science ended up finding Dinevenator robustus, a dinosaur species that roamed in New Mexico more than 70 million years ago.

鈥淚 think it鈥檚 one of those things where this also suggests or shows the importance of keeping fossils and keeping specimens like this somewhere safe,鈥� said Steven Jasinski, the museum鈥檚 paleontology curator.

鈥淏ecause if we had not kept the specimen somewhere safe, if it had not been at a museum or something like that, then we wouldn鈥檛 be able to do this research and we wouldn鈥檛 be learning new things 20 years after the fossil was collected and first written about,鈥� Jasinski said. 

The original fossil was collected in 2005 in the San Juan Basin by paleontologist Robert Sullivan. Initially identified as a Dromaeosaur 鈥� a relative of the Velociraptor 鈥� for 12 years, Sullivan and Jasinski went back to the research and ended up finding unique anatomical markers: a relatively large brain and bird-like features. 

鈥淭his new work illustrates the dynamic nature of dinosaur studies as we continue to test what we think we know,鈥� said Anthony Fiorillo, New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science executive director. 

鈥淔urthermore, it demonstrates that New Mexico clearly has a prominent place in those global conversations,鈥� Fiorillo said. 

Based on data from related species, researchers concluded the dinosaur was a bipedal troodontid, from 8 to 10 feet long and around 150 to 300 pounds. These theropods are known for having unusually large brains relative to other dinosaurs, according to published in the scientific journal Fossil Studies on Monday. 

鈥淚t's really important to understand what life was like in the past, so we can get an idea as to why things are the way they are today, and what we might be able to expect moving forward into the future,鈥� Jasinski said.

Although classified within a larger lineage of carnivorous dinosaurs, the study reports Dinevenator likely maintained an omnivorous diet. It may have consumed small mammals, birds, insects, lizards, fruit and plants. 

Dinevenator lived in a much wetter and more subtropical climate. The environment consisted of a flood plain characterized by forests, open landscapes and expansive coniferous trees, very different from the New Mexico we know today. 

鈥淭here鈥檚 always change. There was change in the past 鈥� so even if we don't think that we are similar to dinosaurs in any way, our world is changing just as their world was changing,鈥� Jasinski said.

While Dinevenator is only known from a single frontal bone on the top of the skull, it is unique among these dinosaurs.

Karmina Conde is a news reporter for the Journal. You can reach her at kconderuiz@abqjournal.com