Buzz
A new carnivorous dinosaur has been added to the lineup of the most dangerous prehistoric 'assassins'.
The prehistoric 'assassin' lineup, notorious for their carnivorous habits, just welcomed a new member. At the Bahariya Formation, a renowned fossil site in the heart of the Sahara Desert, Egypt, a group of paleontologists unearthed a massive backbone belonging to a new dinosaur species within the abelisaurid family.
Also known as abelisaurid dinosaurs, these carnivorous bipeds thrived in the Late Cretaceous period (145 to 66 million years ago) - contemporaneous with the fearsome tyrannosaurus rex.
Resembling its abel brethren, this new species boasts a short, bull-like face as described by scientists. Despite its intimidating appearance, it is not the most ferocious dinosaur in the region.
'We are 99% certain that, unlike some of its relatives from different times and places, this particular abelisaurid species does not sit atop its food chain' - Matthew Lamanna, a paleontologist at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh and one of the researchers who discovered this dinosaur species, told Live Science via email.
The abel dinosaur bears a striking resemblance to T-rex but with even more 'peculiar' arms
Despite only finding a single bone, scientists identified it as belonging to the abel dinosaur family due to distinctive features on the vertebrae. Nonetheless, this abel dinosaur is the first of its kind discovered in the Bahariya Formation.
Following computer-based morphological analysis of the bone, the research team concluded it belonged to a previously unknown species, still unnamed. They announced their discovery on June 8 in the Royal Society Open Science journal.
In appearance, the abel dinosaur resembles a heavyweight 'tyrant', but with shorter and bulkier arms. They 'terrorized' the Southern Hemisphere from the Jurassic period 170 million years ago until the Chicxulub asteroid bid farewell to all lifeforms.
Arguably the most famous abel species is the horned Carnotaurus, a South American 'assassin' reaching up to 25 feet (7.6 meters), according to the Natural History Museum London. Its name derives from Latin words for 'meat' and 'bull'. A recreated version also made appearances in the Jurassic Park films.
Researchers speculate that the newly discovered abel species is smaller than Carnotaurus, possibly only measuring from 5 to 6 meters. Compared to the predators it once coexisted with 98 million years ago, this dinosaur is merely a 'little rascal'.
Spinosaurus, or the spiny lizard, is a remarkably impressive species, with jaws reminiscent of a crocodile
The Bahariya Formation harbors an oddly dense concentration of prehistoric predators. The vast saltwater marshes were once home to numerous fish, turtles, snakes, and dinosaurs. The newly discovered abel may have 'teamed up' to spread terror alongside a T-rex relative named Carcharodontosaurus.
This area was also the 'territory' of the spiny lizard and Bahariya lizard, both renowned meat-eating dinosaurs.
Lamanna noted that finding multiple large carnivores coexisting in a single ecosystem is highly unusual. He added: 'How can this 98-million-year-old environment support not just 1 but 4 gigantic predatory dinosaurs remains a mystery'.
Source: Live Science
