Scientists find new dinosaur species in Patagonia

Argentine paleontologists found a 90 million years old dinosaur species in Patagonia.

The discovery occurred in the province of Río Negro, in the Argentinian Patagonia. It is a small and agile animal, no more than five feet long. The results of the finding were published in late May in the scientific journal The Science of Nature.

Although it could not fly, this dinosaur could perform movements similar to what modern birds do during flight, and it would have used its wings to gain balance while running, for example, to attack prey.

“This new species, which we called Overoraptor chimentoi, is a new member of the group of carnivorous dinosaurs called Paraves,” said Matías Motta, a researcher at the Laboratory of Comparative Anatomy and Evolution of Vertebrates at the Argentine Museum of Natural Sciences, to the CTyS agency.

“This animal had a very sharp claw on the index finger of the foot, which certainly served to attack its prey, and it had an elongated and delicate paw, which indicates that it was a running animal,” said the main author of the study.

Federico Agnolín, one of the authors of the study, pointed out that what surprised them most was the fact that “their legs are like those of a velociraptor, but their upper limbs are extremely long and robust, similar to those of modern birds.”