In a field Argentine dating back toCarnian age (approximately 237-227 million years ago), one of the phases of Triassic (250-200 million years ago), i paleontologists they found the remains of one of the oldest dinosaur species known to date. The name of this new species is Huayracursor jaguensisand its discovery marks a very important turning point in the study of origins of dinosaurs.
The discovery occurred in the deposit of Quebrada Santo Domingoin the Northern Andean Precordillerain northwestern Argentina. The study was conducted by Argentine researchers led by E. Martín Hechenleitner And Agustín G. Martinelli. According to the phylogenetic reconstruction of the discoverers, Huayracursor jaguensis it would be one of the most species ancient belonging to the group of sauropodomorphswhich would later evolve into the large col species long neckas is known Brontosaurus And Diplodochus.
The new species was approximately 1 and a half metresand unlike other smaller dinosaurs that lived in South America in the Triassic, it already presented the characteristics that would characterize the evolution of sauropodomorphs, that is large size And elongated cervical vertebrae. The oldest known sauropodomorphs were small (around 10 kg in weight) and had visually shorter necks than Huayracursor jaguensis.
The discovery of this new species in Argentina is not only important for understanding some missing pieces of the evolution of dinosaurs, but also why expands further our knowledge regarding the Triassic faunal sample in South America, which to date, in the area of the Northern Andean Precordillera, on the border between Chile and Argentina, is rather scarce.
