First dinosaur fossil discovered in Spain much newer than thought
The first dinosaur ever found in Spain is not as old as paleontologists had believed 鈥� though at 130 million years old, the long-necked creature is no spring chicken.
The dinosaur,听Aragosaurus ischiaticus, was originally discovered in 1987. But听听was difficult to date. Now, researchers at the University of Zaragoza's Aragon Research Institute of Environmental Sciences have found the sauropod's age was estimated at 15 million years too old. The age-shaving results suggest the dinosaur was an ancestor of the enormous Titanosauriforms, a group that includes the听听to ever live.
The new age estimate puts the dinosaur in the Hauterivian age between 136 million and 130 million years ago, the researchers reported March 12 in the journal Geological Magazine.
"This is the only dinosaur of this period found in Spain and is also the most intact in Europe," study author Jos茅 Ignacio Canudo of the University of Zaragoza said in a statement. "It can be categorized amongst the well-known sauropods of the Jurassic-Cretaceous transition (135 million years ago), the most abundant species during the Barremian age (116 million years ago). As this group has been studied the least, the听Aragosaurus听fills the gap."
To accurately date the听Aragosaurus听specimen, Canudo and his colleagues conducted fieldwork at the site of the find. They used fossil pollen found in the same layers of sediment as the听础谤补驳辞蝉补耻谤耻蝉听to pinpoint the date. By knowing the evolutionary history and听听that released that pollen, the researchers can estimate the ages of fossils found in the same layers.
The more accurate date helps flesh out the sauropod family tree, the researchers reported.听础谤补驳辞蝉补耻谤耻蝉听fills a gap in fossil knowledge during the shift from the Jurassic to the Cretaceous period, Canudo said.
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