Dinosaur news

[Ngala]

A new primitive Neornithischian dinosaur from the Jurassic of Patagonia with gut contents
Isaberrysaura mollensis Salgado et al., 2017

*This image is copyright of its original author

Figure 3. Gut content of Isaberrysaura mollensis gen. et sp. nov. (a–c), seeds of cycads ©, and other seeds (s); rib ®. (d,e) Detail of seeds of cycads: sarcotesta (sa), sclerotesta (sc), coronula ©, nucellus (n). (f) Location of the gut content in the reconstructed skeleton of Isaberrysaura mollensis gen. et sp. nov. The drawings were processed using Adobe Photoshop CS2 Serial Number: 1045-1412-5685-1654-6343-1431.

Abstract:
"We describe a new species of an ornithischian dinosaur, Isaberrysaura mollensis gen. et sp. nov. The specimen, consisting in an almost complete skull and incomplete postcranium was collected from the marine-deltaic deposits of the Los Molles Formation (Toarcian-Bajocian), being the first reported dinosaur for this unit, one of the oldest from Neuquén Basin, and the first neornithischian dinosaur known from the Jurassic of South America. Despite showing a general stegosaurian appearance, the extensive phylogenetic analysis carried out depicts Isaberrysaura mollensis gen. et sp. nov. as a basal ornithopod, suggesting that both Thyreophora and neornithischians could have achieved significant convergent features. The specimen was preserved articulated and with some of its gut content place in the middle-posterior part of the thoracic cavity. Such stomach content was identified as seeds, most of them belonging to the Cycadales group. This finding reveals a possible and unexpected role of this ornithischian species as seed-dispersal agent." Reply