The new species was named Weewarrasaurus pobeni, after the Wee Warra opal field near Lightning Ridge, where the bones were found, and collector Mike Pobeni, who donated the samples to science. The dinosaur was about the size of a dog.
Gems recovered from the opal fields of Australia turned out to be not just fossils, but also the remains of a dinosaur previously unknown to paleontology. He lived almost 100 million years ago, in the Cretaceous period, when the now deserted town was a large blooming tropical park. The research is published in the journal PeerJ.
The only Weewarrasaurus fragment that was recovered was a mandible with intact teeth, which allowed for a lot to be learned about this species. Paleontologist Phil Bell of the University of New England in Australia determined that it was a small species of ornithopod - a group of bipedal herbivores that include parasaurolophus and iguanodon, for example.
Of all the locations in Australia, Lightning Ridge is considered a goldmine for paleontologists. Once it was a large floodplain on the edge of a giant inland sea, and later it turned into sandstone, where the bones of the dinosaurs are preserved in good condition. When the inland sea began to disappear 100 million years ago, the acidity in the sandstone increased. This, in turn, led to the release of silicon dioxide from some rocks and remains. As acidity levels declined, the silica samples solidified into opals, resulting in the beautiful rainbow-colored shapes of the ancient remains. Nowhere in the world has this opalization been found in such a volume.
It was here that Poben stumbled upon two pieces of jaw, among other opals he bought from local miners, and later shared the find with Bell.
Found dinosaur remains.
“I remember Mike showing me a copy and my jaw literally dropped. I had to struggle to contain my excitement because it was so beautiful,”Bell recalls.
Based on the discovered fossils, the scientist suggested that there may have been small species of ornithopods, at least four of which inhabited the territory of modern Victoria. Only one small species has been found in the northeastern state of Queensland.
Promotional video:
This is very different from the situation in America, where small herbivores would have to compete for food with giant animals such as Triceratops and Alamosaurus.
The remains and the discovery of Weewarrasaurus could help researchers learn more about the diversity of dinosaurs around the world and come to a conclusion about how this diversity could have originated. Today Bell and his team are busy describing other fossils found.
Dmitry Mazalevsky