Credit: Gondwana Research (2024). DOI: 10.1016/j.gr.2024.09.007
Paleontologist Rodrigo Temp Muller from the Federal University of Santa Maria, working with colleagues in Brazil, confirmed the discovery of one of the oldest dinosaur fossils ever discovered in South America.
In his article published in the journal Gondwana ResearchMuller describes where the fossil was found, its condition and where it fits into a group of extinct Triassic reptiles related to dinosaurs.
Muller found the fossil in 2015, near the town of Paraiso do Sul in southern Brazil. But only recently have he and his colleagues started studying it. Dating showed that the creature had lived around 237 million years ago, during the Middle-Late Triassic, and that it was not a dinosaur, but a member of a group sibling called Silesauridae, which in turn is part of a group of non-dinosaur animals. dinosaurs dinosaurs.
Most members of the group were on all fours and had long necks and legs and a short tail. Evidence suggests that some members of the group walked upright part of the time. Silesaurids are thought to have existed for around 30 million years, and paleontologists have suggested that they may have been a precursor to archosaurs.
The fossil consisted of most of the skeletal remains of the ancient creature, enough to prove that it was a distinct species, which Muller named Gondwanax paraisensis. The remains were also complete enough to show that the discovery represents one of the oldest dinosaurs ever discovered in South America and one of the oldest silesaurids found in the world.
Muller determined that the creature’s unique combination of physical attributes, such as its fourth trochanter arising from the femur and its three sacral vertebrae, suggest a wide diversity of locomotor strategies, meaning that it was likely capable of traversing no no matter what terrain she might have encountered. This likely also differentiated the species from others with similar characteristics, giving it a possible niche.
Muller suggests that the fossil is important because it could help us better understand how creatures that lived during the Triassic coexisted and because it could help us better understand the early evolution of archosaurs of the bird lineage.
More information:
Rodrigo Temp Müller, New ‘silesaurid’ from South America’s oldest dinosaur beds provides insight into early evolution of bird-lineage archosaurs, Gondwana Research (2024). DOI: 10.1016/j.gr.2024.09.007
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Quote: Fossil discovered in Brazil is a 237-million-year-old sister group to Dinosauria (October 16, 2024) retrieved October 16, 2024 from
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