The protagonist of this news lived in the lands that we know today as northern Patagonia. He measured about 11 meters long y weighed more than four tons. He was one of the largest predators of its time. He died at 45 years, but his remains, after millions of years buried, have now come to light to recover his legacy. Thus begins the resurgence of ‘Meraxes gigas’the new species of giant dinosaur discovered in Argentina that, according to experts, is one of the most fascinating paleontological findings of the year.
The recently unearthed dinosaur has been baptized with the nombre de ‘Meraxes’ in honor of one of the dragons of the Game of Thrones universe and with the surname ‘gigas’ to, of course, record the enormous size of the animal. The history of this fascinating prehistoric animal has been reconstructed thanks to the discovery of a surprisingly well-preserved set of fossil remains which, once recovered, have passed the scrutiny of a group of researchers led by John Ignatius Channelof the laboratory of the ‘Ernesto Bachmann’ museum.
The remains, which belonged to the same individual, include a almost complete skull (with the exception of the jaw), various fragments of cervical and thoracic vertebrae, a part of the pelvis, the femur, the tibia and the fibula, and finally the entire articulated right arm. Thanks to these relics, the team of researchers led by, were able to reconstruct the trail of this animal.
One of the most surprising features of the ‘M. gigas’, the researchers point out, was reflected in his skull. The dinosaur head I was decorated with ridges, grooves, bumps y little horns. Experts believe that these “ornaments” must have been a typical feature of adult individuals and that they were probably a lure to attract potential sexual partners. “Sexual selection is a powerful evolutionary force. But since we can’t directly observe its behavior, it is impossible to be certain about it“, points out Canale in relation to this hypothesis.
Large short-armed predator
The reconstruction of the ‘Meraxes gigas’ also draws a curious parallelism between this recently unearthed dinosaur and another of the great predators of the Cretatic, the ‘Tyranosaurus Rex’. In both cases, these animals stood out for being true giant carnivores huge body and (disproportionately) small arms. This morphological similarity, which at first might seem like a simple curiosity, points to a interesting conclusion about the evolution of these animals.
According to phylogenetic analyses, the ‘M. Gigas’ and the ‘T. Rex’ they do not share any type of direct kinship. It’s more. It seems that both dinosaurs are far apart on the evolutionary tree. They did not even coexist in the same period, since the Argentine dinosaur became extinct almost 20 million years before the ‘T. Rex’. So how can it be that both dinosaurs shared such a characteristic feature and so rare in other species? Experts offer the following explanation.
“Having tiny arms must have given these dinosaurs some kind of survival advantage.”
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First of all, everything points to the ‘M. Gigas’ and the ‘T. Rex’ independently developed small arms each other. In other words, it is a characteristic that each species developed on its own. Secondly, to try to explain the reason for this peculiarity, the scientists suggest that “have tiny arms must have provided these dinosaurs some sort of survival advantage“.
This hypothesis opens the door to speculate that, for example, those tiny (but muscular) little arms could serve for reproductive purposes. “How to hold the female during mating“explain the experts. “Or to get up after a fall,” they add. Be that as it may, it seems that it is no coincidence that the great predators of prehistory had large bodies and small arms. Although we still do not know what their exact Function, It is clear that they had to serve something.