2023-05-21 00:35:00
A team of scientists reconstructed the skull of a dinosaur Irritator challengeri, from the Spinosaurus family, which lived in the Northeast almost 115 million years ago. Although it was discovered three decades ago, only now has the animal’s head been reconstructed by researchers.
The image was published in the magazine Palaeontologia Electronicaon April 6 (the website states that the survey is currently unavailable, due to technical issues).
According to the work, the fossil was in the Araripe Sedimentary Basin, whose lands are divided between Ceará, Pernambuco and Piauí. Despite being “Brazilian”, the dinosaur was sent to the State Museum of Natural History in Stuttgart, Germany.
The authors of the reconstitution work at Greifswald and Luís Maximiliano universities, both in Germany, and Freiburg, in Switzerland.
Observations on the Northeast Dinosaur
The researchers found that the skull of the I. challengeri it has been evolutionarily shaped to produce a “weak” but very quick bite. They estimate the predator measured 6.5 meters in length and was the largest animal in its ecosystem.
With computed tomography data, the scientists discovered that the I. challengeri it probably kept its muzzle tilted at 45° in situations that required close attention to its surroundings. The dinosaur likely had a three-dimensional forward viewing area, as no structures, such as the long snout, obstructed its field of vision.
With its snout tilted, the carnivore hunted relatively small prey such as fish. When it opened its mouth, its lower jaws spread out to the sides, which widened the throat region.
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