display
Mexico City (AP) - In Mexico, researchers say they have discovered a previously unknown genus and species of dinosaur.
The herbivore species Tlatolophus galorum could be identified because an almost 80 percent preserved skull was found during excavations in the northern Mexican state of Coahuila, the National Institute for Anthropology and History (INAH) announced on Thursday (local time).
This also included a 1.32 meter long ridge.
The name of the genus Tlatolophus is composed of the word Tlahtolli (word) in the Aztec language Nahuatl and the Greek word Lophus (comb).
The shape of the comb resembles a symbol that was used by Mesoamerican peoples to represent communication and knowledge, it said.
The comb also had a communication function: through inner passages that connect the nose and windpipe, it worked like an integrated trumpet.
display
The discovery was preceded by the discovery of the animal's tail in 2005, as the scientists from INAH and the UNAM University in Mexico City also explained in the specialist publication “Cretaceous Research”.
In 2013, this was therefore salvaged.
The dinosaur must have died 72 or 73 million years ago in a body of water that was rich in sediments, the INAH said.
As a result, his body must have been quickly covered by earth, which preserved it.
“This fossil, which is still being investigated, is an exception in Mexican paleontology because extremely auspicious events had to take place millions of years ago when Coahuila was a tropical region - like a large coastal plain - in order for it to be preserved under the conditions below we found it, "said paleontologist Felisa Aguilar, according to the message.
display
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210514-99-592948 / 3
INAH announcement (Spanish)
Contribution to Cretaceous Research