Victor Feijó de Carvalho
Artistic concept of Carioccus bocageikind of new iguanodon now identified, in its habitat
In a new study, a rare 125 million -year -old dinosaur skull found in 2016 on the Sesimbra coast, was now identified as a new species of Dinosaur Iguanodon, baptized as Carioccus bocagei. “It’s an authentic Pandora box,” the investigators say.
Millions of years ago, a great herbivore walked through an ancestor valley and fed on the vegetation that grew there.
This land would later become the Iberian Peninsula, and the valley where the animal was would be buried deeply in the rocks that are today part of Portugal.
About 125 million years later, in 2016, the paleontologist Pedro Marrecas, on a visit to the rocky cliffs next to the beach of the mast area, in Sesimbra, he would discover a toothpick of the surface of the stone.
The prehistoric animal had become a fossil and after a “meticulous work of preparation and restoration”, half the creature’s skull was extracted from the rock – and identified as belonging to A new species for science.
The new species, baptized Carioccus bocagei and presented in a published on Monday in Journal of Systematic PalaeontologyIt was a Hadrosauride, a type of iguanodon that lived at the beginning of the Cretaceous period.
“The new Iguanodon lived in what we today call Dry chat formationsharing its habitat with titanosaurs (long -length neck and tail dinosurials) and a cousin of the famous spinosaurus predator called Iberospinus, ”he says Bruno CamiloDirector of the Society of Natural History of Torres Vedras and corresponding author of the article, in a press release.
“Other iguanodonts have already been discovered in this region, but none had the characteristics necessary to be considered a new species”, Adds the researcher at Instituto Superior Técnico.
This new species is the first iguanodon of the Cretaceous identified in Portugal. The fossil a partial skull that, after reconstruction, measures about 37 centimeters in length, “is the most complete dinosaur skull You have ever found to this day in the country, ”says Bruno Camilo.
O Carioccus Displays a unique feature among dinosaurs: the jugal bone and the maxilla are fused
The fossilized skull was that of an animal described as “medium size” and belongs not to only to a new species, but also to a new genreor group of species.
The analysis of the shape of the teeth allowed investigators to conclude that it was a herbivorous speciesthat is, that fed on plants.
“O Carioccus It displays a unique feature between dinosaurs: the jugal bone and maxilla are fused, an adaptation probably conceived to strengthen their chewing, ”explains the first author of the study, Filippo Bertozzoresearcher at the Royal Museum of Natural Sciences of Brussels, Belgium, and the Society of Natural History of Torres Vedras.
At first glance, the researchers say, the skull resembles the bones of a goat or horse, which led the team of investigators to choose for the new genre Name related to old animal sacrifices.
“The generic name refers to carioccusthe deity associated with the war between the Iberian and Lusitanian peoples who inhabited the current center of Portugal, and also alludes to the Surface resemblance to the skulls of goats and horsesanimals habitually sacrificed in religious rituals dedicated to cariocus. ”
The specific epithet Bocagei honor José Vicente Barbosa Du Bocage19th century Portuguese naturalist who was a pioneer of zoological investigation in Portugal.
The reconstruction of the skull also showed that the new species also had a short olfactory wolf and a relatively large brain. This preservation also allowed, for the first time, rebuild the anatomy of the ear tissues internal of an iguanodon.
“We are increasingly deepening knowledge about the sensory capabilities of dinosaurs, and the exceptional preservation of the endocasto of Carioccus allowed us to better understand the details of the ears and hearing of these animals, ”he says Ricardo Araújoalso researcher at IST and co-author of the study.
“O Carioccus It is an authentic Pandora box Of very interesting and important questions about the biology of dinosaurs, which are now being revealed, ”he adds.
In addition to allowing you to better know this specific species, researchers point out that the fossil helps to understand how this iguanodon fits into group dispersion by different continents old.
“This copy gives important information about the origin and diversification of these animals during the Cretacic, revealing that, within the group, it is among the oldest Hadrosaurids and suggesting a euro-African origin For the group, instead of Asian, as thought so far, ”concludes Bruno Camilo.
