Scientists discover a new dinosaur that revolutionizes our understanding of evolution and fills a gap in history
A site in Burgos reveals a new tiny species of dinosaur from 125 million years ago.
An international team of paleontologists has announced a discovery that changes the way we understand the evolution of herbivorous dinosaurs: a tiny new species found in Burgos, considered the smallest known ornithopod dinosaur in the world to date.
The remains belong to a species named Foskeia pelendonum, recovered from the Vegagete site near Villanueva de Carazo in the province of Burgos. This ornithopod lived approximately 125 million years ago during the Early Cretaceous and measured between 20 and 24 inches in body length, with a height of no more than 12 inches.
The species name honors the Pelendones, a Celtiberian tribe that once inhabited the area where the fossil was found, and it also reflects aspects of the lifestyle of this tiny dinosaur.
The study, led by paleontologist Paul Émile Dieudonné and published in the journal Papers in Palaeontology, is based on the analysis of more than 800 fossilized bones, of which around 350 were identified as belonging to six individuals of different ages, ranging from juveniles to adults.
A key evolutionary link
The fossils allowed researchers to reconstruct significant parts of its anatomy. The skull, measuring only about 2 inches long, shows a robust jaw and adaptations for chewing vegetation despite its small size. Scientists emphasized that this species stands out not only for its size but also for the important insights it provides into the evolution of rhabdodontids, a group of ornithopods that thrived millions of years later.
The small size of Foskeia also raises a new hypothesis: rhabdodontids may have gradually grown larger over time, possibly because predator pressure on prey decreased toward the end of the Cretaceous.
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