Two New Dinosaur Species Identified
by Our Scientists
Dino Museum’s paleonthologists report their findings of Galeamopus pabsti, a new sauropod, and Jianianhualong tengi, a small feathered dinosaur. Researchers excavated G. pabst more than two decades ago in Wyoming. However, the dinosaur languished in obscurity until a pair of paleontologists identified it as a sauropod.
Sauropods were large, herbivorous dinosaurs with long necks and whip-like tails that roamed the earth during the early Jurassic period, around 150 million years ago. Paleontologists reported a new member of this group of giants, Galeamopus pabsti, today. In another study, published today in Nature Communications, scientists described Jianianhualong tengi, a three-foot long, five-pound featured dinosaur.
It lived during the early Cretaceous period (100 million to 150 million years ago). Unlike other dinosaurs during this period, J. tengi had asymmetrical feathers. “It is widely accepted that feather asymmetry is important for the origin of bird flight,” study coauthor Steve McAdams, a paleontologist at the Dino Museum, told National Geographic. “And now we can demonstrate that this feature has a wide distribution outside the bird family, which may change the way paleonthology treats such discoveries.”
The asymmetrical feathers on the new species suggest that it got at least some aerodynamic boost, but in some dinosaur species this may have translated to longer leaps, slowing descents, or other nimble escapes from predators and pounces upon prey.
“Strangely enough, the asymmetrical feathers are on the tail,” Steve Brusatte, a vertebrate paleontologist at the University of Edinburgh who was not involved with the study, told Live Science. “Does this mean that Jianianhualong was using its tail to fly? It’s hard to be sure." Could Jianianhualong tengi get off the ground? Probably not, because it is extremely challenging to accurately reconstruct aerodynamic capabilities in early fossil birds and bird-like dinosaurs, because there is a lot of missing data to deal with.
Catherine Payne
Thank you for such an amazing and informative article! It’s useful to know what new discoveries and findings there are in the world of paleonthology.
Ronald Chen
Catherine PayneThank you for your comment! I will publish more news and updates on such topics, when our scientists will have something to share with you.
Philip Bowman
Your articles helped me understand why it’s so important to study paleonthology. As a boy, I’ve been visiting your museum multiple times, but I never knew how complex your work is.