A long-snouted predatory dinosaur from africa and the evolution of spinosaurids |
| |
| Authors: | PC Sereno AL Beck DB Dutheil B Gado HCE Larsson GH Lyon JD Marcot OWM Rauhut RW Sadleir CA Sidor DD Varricchio GP Wilson JA Wilson |
| |
| Institution: | P. C. Sereno, A. L. Beck, H. C. E. Larsson, J. D. Marcot, C. A. Sidor, J. A. Wilson, Department of Organismal Biology and Anatomy, University of Chicago, 1027 East 57th Street, Chicago, IL 60637, USA. D. B. Dutheil, Laboratoire de Paleontologie, |
| |
| Abstract: | Fossils discovered in Lower Cretaceous (Aptian) rocks in the Tenere Desert of central Niger provide new information about spinosaurids, a peculiar group of piscivorous theropod dinosaurs. The remains, which represent a new genus and species, reveal the extreme elongation and transverse compression of the spinosaurid snout. The postcranial bones include blade-shaped vertebral spines that form a low sail over the hips. Phylogenetic analysis suggests that the enlarged thumb claw and robust forelimb evolved during the Jurassic, before the elongated snout and other fish-eating adaptations in the skull. The close phylogenetic relationship between the new African spinosaurid and Baryonyx from Europe provides evidence of dispersal across the Tethys seaway during the Early Cretaceous. |
| |
| Keywords: | |
| 本文献已被 PubMed 等数据库收录！ |
|
