A new species of dinosaur that had weak forearms would look like Popeye in comparison, according to Paleontologists in Argentina.
The dinosaur is thought to belong to a group of small-armed animals known as abelisaurids, which once traveled across Europe, Africa, South America, and India.
The skull of G. ochoai is about 70 million years old and is the only one of its kind in northwest Argentina. The braincase is small, unlike other abelisaurids.
It is one of the smallest-brained abelisaurids recorded to date, which is 70 percent the size of the famous Carnotaurus genus.
The arms of the newly discovered species would have flopped on its broad chest. Without mobile elbow joints and ossified wrist bones, abelisaurids couldn't bend their upper appendages. They did not have claws.
Don't let that fool you. Even though the T. rex had longer and more muscular arms, he could still take down larger prey. Their strong jaws and blade-like teeth made up for their small limbs.
The Natural History Museum in the United Kingdom compares the skull of G. ochoai to that of abelisaurids.
There is an artistic representation of C. sastrei. The Wikimedia Commons/CC BY 4.0 is owned by Fred Wierum.
Anjali Goswami from NHM in the United Kingdom says that the new dinosaur is quite unusual.
It shows that the dinosaurs that live in this region were different from those in other parts of Argentina, supporting the idea of distinct provinces in the Cretaceous of South America.
The analysis supports other recent discoveries, which suggest abelisaurids were more diverse in South America. As the southern supercontinent, Gondwana, began to split up, abelisaurids were able to adapt to different isolated environments.
It's not clear why they evolved such small arms. Experts think these are leftovers from ancestors who used to benefit from their presence.
The fossils found in Argentina have a lot in common, including small arms, but the one found in the northwest is different.
The skull shows a series of small holes that might have allowed the dinosaur to cool itself down by releasing heat. It wouldn't be as useful further south.
South America was divided into northeastern and southwestern areas by a sea corridor which acted as a filter for some animals.
The strong morphological differences exhibited by Guemesia in contrast to other abelisaurids may be an additional proof of the biogeographic distinctiveness of northwestern Argentina.
Argentina is relatively unexplored compared to other fossil rich parts of the world.
The journal published the study.
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