In Salitral Moreno, south of the city of Black river, from General Roca, Argentine scientists linked to CONICET announced that they found skeletal remains of a dinosaur belonging to the group of nodosaurids. The species in question was named as Patagopelta cristata.
This peculiar name means “Patagonian crested shell”; refers to the characteristic armor that this group of animals has on the back and tail and to the geographical region in which the Province of Black riverwhere his remains were found.
East specimen from rionegrin it could have measured from two to three meters long, due to the 25-centimeter length of the femur found. According to the Government of Black river, “The bones do not represent a complete animal nor do they come from a single specimen, but they were enough to understand that it was something new, with its own characteristics that allowed us to recognize a new and unique species of dinosaur.”
The most abundant parts of this animal in Salitral Moreno correspond to the individual pieces that make up the protective armor it had in life.. These are called osteoderms and are similar to the bones found on the back of different species of crocodiles and alligators.
In turn, the Río Negro government explained that “in this context, the publication of a new species from Argentina gives the material not only local importance, as it is the first ankylosaur named in the country, but also globally. The contribution of different research groups over the years was key to being able to dust off the identity of this new dinosaur”.
The largest dinosaur in the world is Argentine
On the other hand, the remains of the largest dinosaur that has been recorded to date were found in the province of Chubut, in a ranch belonging to a family named Mayo, by the rural laborer Aureliano Hernández.
This gigantic animal was called Patagotitan Mayorum, it was about 40 meters long in life, weighed approximately 70 thousand kilograms and moved through the Patagonian steppe more than 100 million years ago, in the Cretaceous era.
The 1:1 (real scale) reconstruction of this colossal dinosaur will be sent to London’s Waterhouse Gallery for exhibition. The museums of natural sciences in New York and Chicago in the United States and São Paulo in Brazil also requested replicas.