From 8 Million Year Old Fossils, a new Duck-Billed Species of Dinosaur Discovered

New Species of Duck-Billed Dinosaur

In the study published in the Systematic Paleontology Journal, detailed information about the skull of a duck-billed dinosaur from America's Big Bend National Park, Texas was explained, this new species is named Aquilarhinus palimentus. This dinosaur has been named this because of its aquiline nose like the beak and wide lower jaw.

Aquilarhinus palimentus (Image: ICRA art)

In the 80s of last century, Professor Tom Lehman of Texas University was conducting research on rock layers at Rattle Snake Mountain and discovered some fossils of this species dinosaur. After studying those fossils in 1990, it was reported that this species of fossil duck-billed dinosaur was of Gryposaurus species. However, since the recent research done, old studies have been considered wrong because the specimen was more primitive than Gryposaurus dinosaurs.

After looking at the specificity of fossils, it can be said that they are not of Gryposaurus. These are different from them and certainly belong to a new species. Albert Prieto Marquez from the institute Catala de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont, Barcelona, told that “This new animal is one of the more primitive hadrosaurids known and can therefore help us to understand how and why the ornamentation on their heads evolved , as well as where the group initially evolved and migrated from”. He further added that “Its existence adds another piece of evidence to the growing hypothesis, still up in the air, that the group began in the southeastern area of the US”.

Aquilarhinus palimentus (Image:ICRA art)

Eighty million years ago, this particular type of dinosaur used to live on earth. Scientists have said that “This dinosaur resided around the swamp near tidal marshes of an ancient delta, where today lies the Chihuahuan desert and when the dinosaur died, some of its bones were transported downstream by the tide”.

The diversity of the dinosaur jaw of a new species discovered by scientists is its biggest feature. The scientists said that “In general, some of the jaws of the duck-billed dinosaurs were sharp and some were wide. He told that after studying the remains of new species, it is found that its jaws will be like crop cutting tools, so that it can easily cut food from small plants. Its upper jaw is U shaped, the bottom size is W shaped”.