Scissorhands dinosaur discovered in Brazil

An incredible discovery that closes the evolutionary chain that exists in the middle between dinosaurs and birds, was found in Brazil. A strange creature lived about 230 million years ago during the period Triassic (from 252 to 201 million years ago) with huge hands and long sword-shaped claws.

His “hands and claws, which are somewhat reminiscent of Edward’s scissorhands (young scissorhands), and may have been used for catching prey or climbing trees,” he said. Rodrigo MullerA paleontologist from the Federal University of Santa Maria in Brazil told Live Science.

According to Muller, it had a large, sharp beak that it likely poked at insects, fruits, and small animals like lizards. Its claws were probably used for climbing and handling prey.

In honor of the characteristic predatory beak and tenacious claws, the researchers named the reptile Venetorapter gassenae.

Pterosaurs, which had membranes (not feathers like birds), lived with dinosaurs, turtles, lizards and other animals 220 million years ago and died out 66 million years ago. Thus, their predecessors were the Lagerpetids, although this group did not fly.

“If we think of a big family, Venetoraptor was also related to dinosaurs. It was not their ancestor, but they were related: they are like very close relatives, ”says Dr. Fernando Novas, one of the scientists at Conicet, who participated in the study, published today in the journal Nature, and who heads the Laboratory of Comparative Anatomy and Evolution. This was reported to Infobae.com by Bernardino Rivadavia, a representative of the vertebrates of the Argentine Museum of Natural Sciences.