One more member in the dinosaur family

2001/01/25 Elhuyar Zientzia

• Paleontologia
• Arkeologia

On the island of Madagascar, in eastern Africa, is a small and unique dinosaur. The fossil is the end of the Cretaceous, dating back about 65-70 million years ago.

The new dinosaur is named Masiakasaurus knopfle in honor of singer Mark Knopfler. The discoverers have recognized that it is not a very orthodox but appropriate name. And every time archaeologists listened to Knopfler's music they discovered and that's why they gave him such a curious name.

The dinosaur is between 1.6 and 2.0 meters long and has long hills and tails. Its weight was about 35 kilos and it was carnivorous. In fact, the teeth and jaw are very special. Both very specialized, not seen until now among dinosaurs. The rear teeth, like all dinosaurs, are crushed and serrated, but the fronts are tapered, with perforated tips and barely serrated. The discoverers have announced in the journal Nature that teeth are undoubtedly the rarest feature of the new dinosaur.

On the other hand, the discovery of the fossil has given researchers two new remains. On the one hand, it has been concluded that with some dinosaurs found in India and Argentina, for their common characteristics, small dinosaurs expanded more than expected in the southern hemisphere. On the other hand, they have seen that the geographical distribution of these small dinosaurs is similar to that of the major relatives, which can help those who investigate plate tectonics, since fossils give clues on how the continents moved.