The ancestor of Stegosaurus, Triceratops and Iguanodon

New fossil sheds light on the origins of Triceratops, Stegosaurus and Iguanodon

Dinosaurs are divided into two main groups, these are called saurischians (lizard hips) and ornithischians (bird hips). There are a number of different characteristics that distinguish these two groups, but simply put, each group of dinosaurs had a different design of the hip bones. In bird-hipped dinosaurs like Stegosaurus and Triceratops, two hip bones, the ischium and the pubis, point backward. In lizard-hipped dinosaurs like Allosaurus and Diplodocus, these two bones point in different directions.

Dinosaurs were first classified in the 19th century

This classification of dinosaurs was made in the 19th century, before scientists realized that birds are closely related to dinosaurs, it is lizard-hipped dinosaurs that gave rise to birds, not hipped dinosaurs birdlike, as might be supposed. The classification of dinosaurs is fraught with complications like this, mainly because it is a bit of a “moveable feast.” Improvements in research and new techniques along with more fossils mean that scientists are increasing their knowledge all the time and that some of the established ancient science is now being rethought and rewritten.

The discovery of a new dinosaur called the Eocursor has led scientists to claim that this animal is a major advance in our understanding of the evolution of bird-hipped dinosaurs. A group that included famous dinosaurs like Triceratops, Iguanodon, and Stegosaurus.

Dinosaur discovered in South Africa

The fossil was unearthed in the Karoo Basin region of South Africa in 1993. The Karoo Basin is a very important part of the world for paleontologists, this large area has a thick sequence of sedimentary rocks deposited between 260 million years and 190 million years, which represents time. from the middle of the Permian to the beginning of the Jurassic. Little is known about the origins of dinosaurs, the first fossils date back about 235 million years, this new fossil is about 210 million years old. It is important because this single specimen (spine, lower jaw, limb bones, and most important of all, the pelvis) shows the bones pointing backwards in the pelvic area of ​​an ornithischian. This fossil will help shed some light on the early evolution of Ornithischia.

What was one of the first dinosaurs with the hip of a bird like?

Eocursor, or to give it its own species name. Eocursor parvus (small, early runner), was a small, agile, herbivore. It was the size of a dog and had teeth suitable for eating plants, relatively long arms and hands, perhaps indicating that it moved on all fours, but the hands may have been helpful in grasping the foliage while feeding. The long hind legs and slight skeleton suggest it was a fast runner, standing up and using its speed to dodge slower predators such as mammalian-like cynodonts or primitive crocodile-like Archosaurs.

Although the remains were first discovered in 1993, the skeleton has only recently been studied and its importance has not been understood. Described as an “important find” by paleontologists, this South African discovery will help scientists reconstruct the family tree of dinosaurs.

The assessment of the work carried out by Dr. Richard Butler (Museum of Natural History) and his co-researchers at the Iziko South African Museum in Cape Town and the University of Cambridge (UK).

Little Eocursor parvus may help paleontologists shed some light on the evolution of the Ornithischians, the part of the dinosaur family tree that gave rise to the Stegosaurs, Triceratops, and Iguanodon.

When Eocursor roamed the earth, during the Triassic period, all the continental plates came together to form a large land mass called Pangea, but not much is known about the evolution of herbivorous dinosaurs, in fact perhaps the early Ornithischian dinosaur. best known. is Fabrosaurus that lived during the early Jurassic, a few million years after Eocursor.

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