Paleontologists have announced the discovery of a previously unknown small armored dinosaur in southern Argentina, a creature that likely walked upright on its hind legs, and roamed a then-steamy landscape some 100 million years ago.
The Cretaceous dinosaur named Jakapil Kaniukura would have been well protected with rows of bony disc-shaped armor along its neck and back and up to its tail, they said. She was about 1.5 meters long and weighed only 4 to 7 kg, similar to the average house cat.
Its fossilized remains have been unearthed over the past decade near a dam in Patagonia, in the La Buitrera paleontological zone in Río Negro province. The scientists described Jakapil in a study published Thursday in the journal Scientific Reports.
The scientists said Jakapil was the first discovery of their kind of armored dinosaur from the Cretaceous period in South America. It belongs to the Thyrophoran dinosaur group, which also includes Stegosaurus, known for its bony backplates and spiked tail, and the armor-like Ankylosaurus, which is covered in armor and sports a club-like tail.
Senior paleontologist Sebastián Apesteguía and his colleagues found a partial skeleton of Jakapil along with 15 tooth fragments with a leaf-like shape, similar to iguana teeth.
Jakapil resembles a primitive form of thyreophoran that lived much earlier, making it surprising that it dates from the Cretaceous period. Apesteguía said a thyrophoran like this had never before been unearthed anywhere in the southern hemisphere.