New species of dinosaur discovered in Greenland

Scientists have discovered a new species of dinosaur in Greenland.

It would have lived during the period of the Upper Triassic, that is to say 214 million years ago.

At that time, Greenland was part of the northern edge of the Pangea supercontinent before breaking up and before the formation of the Atlantic Ocean, reports

.

The discovery was made by an international team made up of researchers from Portugal, Denmark and Germany.

The results of the study were published on November 3 on the website of the medical journal

.

In fact, the fossilized remains studied were discovered several decades ago, in 1994, by paleontologists at Harvard University.

New dinosaur species "Issi saaneq" uncovered in frozen Greenland.

Fossils were originally uncovered in the 1990s, and were misidentified as belong to Plateosaurus.

It is the region's oldest-known plant-eating dinosaur.

@ beccarivictor @ omateus @ULisboa_ https://t.co/2s4Yb6IFcb pic.twitter.com/DxEz7CIbxh

- Cosmos Magazine (@CosmosMagazine) November 9, 2021

After their study, the fossils will be exhibited in a museum

Scientists believed at the time that the two skulls found belonged to a Plateosaurus. Today, they claim that the bones belong to a new species of dinosaur. “The anatomy of the two skulls is unique in many ways, for example in the shape and proportions of the bones. These specimens certainly belong to a new species, ”says Victor Beccari, lead author of the study.

This new dinosaur was named Issi Saaneq, "cold bone" in the Inuit language of Greenland. It was a medium-sized herbivorous animal, living on two legs and having a long neck. This animal is said to be an ancestor of the sauropods, the largest land animals that the earth has known. According to the researchers, these skulls belonging to an adult and a juvenile, would be different from all the other sauropodomorphs already discovered.

Similarities with dinosaurs discovered in Brazil would still exist, especially with the Macrocollum and Unaysaurus, which are nearly 15 million years old.

According to the study, this discovery is the first evidence for the existence of a distinct species of Greenlandic dinosaur.

Researchers now hope to learn more about the chronology and evolution of the sauropods, which have lived on earth for nearly 150 million years.

Once fully investigated, the fossils will travel to the Danish Museum of Natural History.

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