There is a new species of dinosaur found in Argentina. The large body, sharp teeth and small arms of Meraxes gigas were similar to those of T.rex.
Corryn Wetzel is a writer.
The artist drew an illustration of a dinosaur.
The man is Carlos Papolio.
The dinosaur species, Meraxes gigas, had a giant body and small fore limbs. Both species have proportionally tiny arms.
Paleontologists have been working on the skeleton of the dinosaur since it was unearthed in northern Argentina. Juan Ignacio Canale, one of the researchers that found the fossil, said that the fossil was very complete and exquisitely preserved. He says that they compared the bones with other known species and concluded that it was a new species.
M. gigas had a large head and tail and walked on two powerful legs. "For a long time, we thought it was mostly tyrannosaurs that did the big head, long legs, small arms thing." He says that another group of dinosaurs called carcharodontosaurs, which includes M. gigas, was doing the same kind of evolution.
The researchers think that M. gigas was 11 metres long. The species had a skull adorned with crests, bumps and small horns and the individual that was recovered appears to have died at a younger age than T. rex.
The dinosaurs are not very close to each other on the evolutionary tree. It's possible that small forelimbs on large dinosaurs evolved independently.
Canale says that the proportionally tiny arms had something to do with it. The arm muscles of M. gigas were thought to have been put to use. Canale thinks they might have used their arms to help after a fall.
The discovery of M. gigas reminds us of how limited our understanding of dinosaurs is. It's important that we know how much is left to be discovered.
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