It lived in the desert, was a carnivore and had a height of 60 to 90 cm. A new species of dinosaur was discovered in Brazil after a group of scientists studied footprints found in the city Araraquara, state of Sao Paulo.. After years of analysis, they were able to confirm that the tracks did not match any other recorded dinosaur tracks.
The new species was named Farlovichnus fast. It translates to “Furlow’s Swift Track” and refers to how fast this type of dinosaur found in Brazil must have been. “From the large distance between the tracks found, it can be concluded that this was a very fast reptile that ran along the ancient dunes,” the country’s Geological Survey said in a statement.
The footprints were originally found in 1980 by Giuseppe Leonardi, an Italian priest and paleontologist. The fossil material was found in ancient dune desert rocks in a region called the Botucatu Formation, which covers parts of southern Brazil and northern Uruguay. In 1984 they were donated to the Museum of Geosciences in Brazil for study.
The dinosaur lived in the desert in what is now Brazil during the Early Cretaceous period. Between 100 and 145 million years ago. The Botucatu Formation is one of the most fossiliferous areas of South America. Especially tetrapod ichnofossils: traces of four-legged animals such as dinosaurs, crocodiles or mammals.
Footprints Farlovichnus fastHowever, “they are very different from all other known theropod tracks,” the study report, published in a scientific journal, emphasized. Cretaceous studies.
Brazil, region of several new dinosaur discoveries
Windy environments such as dunes are thought to be poor places for animal tracks to be preserved. Wind can quickly destroy tracks, making them difficult to find or even completely destroyed. But as this new dinosaur in Brazil shows, the Botucatu Formation is an exception to this rule.
In this region, ichnofossils occur in sedimentary rocks formed by the accumulation of sand in dunes. These stones have a high concentration of organic matter, which helps preserve the marks. The dunes of the Botucatu Formation were also wet, which helped maintain them. The moisture helped the sediments compact and become more resistant to erosion.
The researchers explain that the ancient Botucatu desert was inhabited by a variety of animals, usually quite small. Tetrapod tracks indicate the presence of a bipedal dinosaur fauna. – which walked on two legs – small in size in what is now Brazil. They may have lived around ponds or wadis, desert or semi-desert areas with dry or nearly dry valleys that only filled with water during rare rainfalls.
Amazing 50 tracks
The region has already presented paleontologists with several surprises. Last year, also in Sao Paulo, Brazil, a group of geologists discovered a group of dinosaur tracks. which are believed to date back between 140 and 174 million years, from the Jurassic period.. These will be the oldest tracks found in this country.
Dinosaur tracks from this period are most common in the United States and other parts of the world, but are not typically found in South America. About 50 tracks were found in the area between Rio Claro and Piracicaba. The sizes of the tracks show large animals, four to six meters long and weighing tons. That is: herds of adult and baby dinosaurs roamed this region.
Source: Hiper Textual
