In Argentina, the fossilized remains of a hitherto unknown armored dinosaur the size of a house cat have been discovered.
According to paleontologists, Jakapil kaniukura resembles a primitive relative of Ankylosaurus or Stegosaurus and may represent a previously unknown lineage of species.
It existed between 97 million and 94 million years ago, during the Cretaceous epoch.
According to specialists, J. kaniukura possessed a row of defensive spines running from its neck to its tail and grew to approximately 5 feet (1.5 meters) in length.
It was a herbivore with teeth resembling those of Stegosaurus, walked upright, and possessed a short beak capable of delivering a powerful bite.
According to paleontologists at the Félix de Azara Natural History Foundation in Argentina, the species likely would have been able to consume tough, woody plants.
The incomplete dinosaur skeleton was unearthed in the province of Ro Negro in northern Patagonia.
It joins Stegosaurus, Ankylosaurus, and other dinosaurs with armored backs in the Thyreophora group.
The majority of known thyreophorans are from the Northern Hemisphere.
The majority of fossils from the earliest members of this group date back to the Jurassic period, from 201 to 163 million years ago.
In a new publication, paleontologists Facundo J. Riguetti, Sebastián Apestegua, and Xabier Pereda-Suberbiola claimed that the finding of J. kaniukura proves that early thyreophorans had a far greater geographic distribution than previously believed.
They also noted that it was amazing that this old lineage of thyreophorans survived into the Late Cretaceous in South America.
In the Northern Hemisphere, it appears that the majority of these older forms of thyreophorans became extinct during the Middle Jurassic.
On the southern supercontinent Gondwana, however, lived into the Cretaceous period.
Some later thyreophorans lasted longer, including Ankylosaurus, which became extinct 66 million years ago with the rest of the nonavian dinosaurs.
The new species has been brought to life by a computer simulation created by Gabriel Daz Yantén, a Chilean paleoartist and paleontology student at Ro Negro National University.
It depicts its possible appearance when it roamed the Earth.
