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Ancient Dinosaur Fossil Discovered in China’s Bayan Gobi Formation
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In Short: Scientists have identified a 115-million-year-old dinosaur fossil from a remote section of the Bayan Gobi Formation in Inner Mongolia, expanding the known geographic range of Early Cretaceous dinosaurs.
Scientists have identified the first dinosaur fossil from a remote western section of the Bayan Gobi Formation in China’s Inner Mongolia, extending the known geographic range of dinosaur fossils in this important Early Cretaceous rock unit, according to reports from Sci.News.
The fossil, cataloged as 208GPV01, was recovered unexpectedly during a copper mineral survey at a depth of 473 meters near Guaizihu in the Yin’gen-Ejinaqi Basin, according to Dr. Lida Xing, a researcher at the China University of Geosciences and the Dinosaur Odyssey Science Museum.
The specimen, belonging to Ornithischia, a group of plant-eating, bird-hipped dinosaurs, most closely resembles the early horned dinosaur species Psittacosaurus, common across Cretaceous East Asia, according to the scientists.
What's confirmed
What's still developing
- “Its fauna shares similarities with that of the nearly contemporaneous Western Liaoning, suggesting that both may belong to the radiation range of the Jehol Biota, although some differences exist.” The 208GPV01 fossil dates back roughly 115 million years to the Early Cretaceous epoch.
- To pin down the fossil’s closest relatives, they compared its proportions with those of numerous other ornithischian species using geometric morphometrics.
Sources
- Sci.Newslink