An archaeologist working on a fossil in Ischigualasto National Park in San Juan province, Argentina, April 8, 2019. -
HO / IMCN / AFP
“Orretherium tzen” is its name.
A new species of Late Cretaceous mammal, aged 72 to 74 million years, has been discovered in Patagonia in Chile, the Chilean Antarctic Institute (Inach) announced on Wednesday.
A jaw with five consecutive teeth was thus discovered at Cerro Guido, in the southern region of Magallanes, about 2,700 kilometers south of the capital Santiago, on a site considered to be one of the largest reservoirs of dinosaur fossils. of the region.
🔷🔶 Investigadores descubren nuevo mamífero de la Era de los Dinosaurios en la Patagonia Chilena 😱🔗https: //t.co/BpUZAMDSzj pic.twitter.com/ecOGS3Ejzo
- INACH (@inach_gob) April 7, 2021
According to the researchers, this area was inhabited by prehistoric species from America and Antarctica that migrated millions of years ago through portions of land that were under the sea and that emerged after falling temperatures. .
Understanding the evolution of mammals in the dinosaur era
The new specimen was related to other mammals found in Argentine Patagonia.
The good state of conservation of the remains "is essential to know this new Mesozoic species and to extrapolate its information to other mammals found in Argentina and the rest of Gondwana (former southern continental block)", said the Argentinian paleontologist Agustin Martinelli, who participated in the research.
The discovery area has great potential, scientists also assure us, because “the evolution of mammals in the dinosaur era is still very little known and each discovery of a new species is a breakthrough that attracts attention. around the world, ”according to paleontologist Alexander Vargas, one of the project coordinators.
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