(dr) Viktor Radermacher
The new species is an ornithischian, just like the heterodontosaurus tucki
The species is the oldest and most primitive ornithischian dinosaur found in Asia, a group that is generally found most in Gondwana.
A new species of herbivorous dinosaur, Asian archaeoccursor was discovered in southwestern China, dating back to 193 million years ago, in the Early Jurassic period. Unearthed in the Ziliujing geological formation near Chongqing, the fossilized remains include a almost complete left femurattributed to a young adult dinosaur about 1 meter long.
Researchers at Yunnan University identified the Asiatic archaeoccursor like the ornithischian dinosaur oldest and most primitive found in Asia. Ornithischians were herbivorous dinosaurs with bird-like hip structures, which later gave rise to groups such as stegosaurs, ankylosaurs and ceratopsians. However, its early evolutionary history remained enigmatic for a long time.
The discovery, reported in a published in iScience, reveals information about the diversification and migration patterns of the first ornithischian dinosaurs. While previous fossils of this group were found mainly in the Gondwana regions, the fossil record of ornithischians in Laurasiawhich encompasses Asia and North America, has been less diverse and largely dominated by armored dinosaurs, explains Interesting Engineering.
The researchers propose that the Asiatic archaeoccursor provides evidence of a independent dispersal event and prior to the ornithischian dinosaurs from Gondwana to Laurasia, prior to the migration of armored dinosaurs.
The species shares anatomical similarities with the A small runneran early ornithischian dinosaur discovered in South Africa, further supporting the theory of a Gondwanan origin followed by a northward migration to East Asia during the Pliensbachian period of the Early Jurassic.
The Early Jurassic period marked a significant recovery and an evolutionary development after the Triassic-Jurassic extinction event, when the main groups of dinosaurs began to emerge, such as sauropods and stegosaurs.
The discovery of Asiatic archaeoccursor contributes to the understanding of how ornithischian dinosaurs adapted and spread across different regions during this transformative era.
