Found: The first Diplodocus in South America
Found: The first Diplodocus in South America
May 14th, 2014 at 10:00:00 pm
By Matthew Owens
Scientists have unearthed a new species of dinosaur, Leikupal laticauda, in Argentinian Patagonia that belongs to the same family as Diplodocus. The discovery provides the youngest record of a Diplodocid anywhere on earth and is the first found in South America.
Until now, scientists had thought that an extinction event around the time of the Jurrassic/Cretaceous boundary (144 million years ago) led to the demise of the dinosaurs. But new research suggests that Diplodocids roamed the earth for much longer.
Diplodocids had their heyday in the Jurassic period (between 144 and 200 million years ago) with numerous species found in North America, the Iberian Peninsula, and even in the southern hemisphere (Africa). But there was little sign of the Sauropods after this point. At the end of the Jurassic period they appeared to have suffered global extinction, yet the new study, published today in the online journal PLOS ONE, suggests that they lived on in South America.
“Although Patagonia is famous for its dinosaurs, most of them come from the Upper Cretaceous period, and a few from the Late Lower Cretaceous. This is the first dinosaur from the Early Lower Cretaceous in Patagonia.”, explains lead author Dr Pablo Gallina from Universidad Maimónides in Argentina.
More:
http://www.chileno.co.uk/world/found-the-first-diplodocus-in#.U3PoTmcU_mQ
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