dinosaurs<\/a> with powerful arms and claws.<\/p>\nThese dinosaurs dominated South America, Asia and Australia, but knowledge about them has been hindered by the lack of complete fossils.<\/p>\n
\u201cMany important aspects of megaraptoran morphology and evolution remain poorly understood, due in large part to the fragmentary nature of most fossils of these theropods,\u201d scientists wrote in a new study published in the journal Nature Communications.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\nJoaquinraptor life reconstruction (Andrew McAfee, Carnegie Museum of Natural History)<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
The latest research describes a well-preserved and partially articulated remains of Joaquinraptor casali, <\/em>named so as a \u201ctribute to the son of the study\u2019s first author\u201d Lucio M Ibiricu, as well as the locality \u201cValle Joaqu\u00edn\u201d from which the fossil was recovered.<\/p>\nResearchers uncovered much of the fossil dinosaur\u2019s skull, fore and hind limbs, ribs and vertebrae from the region also known as the Lago Colhu\u00e9 Huapi fossil site in Patagonia, Argentina.<\/p>\n
\u201cHere we report a previously unknown megaraptoran genus and species represented by a partially articulated partial skeleton recovered from an uppermost Cretaceous stratum of the Lago Colhu\u00e9 Huapi Formation of south-central Chubut Province in central Patagonia, Argentina,\u201d researchers wrote.<\/p>\n
The adult dinosaur specimen dates to the late Cretaceous era of about 70 million years ago, making it one of the most recently surviving types of megaraptorans, according to scientists.<\/p>\n
However, the dinosaur appears not fully grown, and was likely 19 years old at death, they say.<\/p>\n\n\nLaguna Palacios megaraptorid thumb claw (Matt Lamanna)<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Based on sediments found along with the dinosaur fossil, researchers suspect it lived in a warm, humid floodplain environment.<\/p>\n
A fossilised crocodile leg bone was also found pressed against the lower jaws of J. casali, <\/em>hinting at its feeding behaviour and suggesting the dinosaur may have been an apex predator in the region.<\/p>\nThe dinosaur and its other megaraptor cousins were dominant predators in this region of South America before going extinct at the end of the Cretaceous with other non-avian dinosaurs, scientists say.<\/p>\n
\u201cMegaraptorids appear to have been the apex predators in central and southern Patagonian palaeoecosystems approaching the end of the Cretaceous,\u201d they wrote.<\/p>\n
However, researchers call for more research to provide further insights into its behaviour and ecological role.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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