Stunning 150-million-year-old stegosaur skull rewrites dinosaur evolution
Key takeaways
- The fossil, which comes from a plated dinosaur that lived about 150 million years ago, is also helping researchers propose a new explanation for how stegosaurs evolved and spread across the world.
- Stegosaurs were plant-eating dinosaurs that walked on four legs and are best known for the rows of plates and spikes running from their necks to their tails.
- Researchers identified the specimen as Dacentrurus armatus, one of Europe's most iconic stegosaurs.
Why this matters: new research or scientific developments with potential real-world impact.
Paleontologists from the Fundaci n Conjunto Paleontol gico de Teruel-Din polis have published new findings in the scientific journal Vertebrate Zoology describing an extraordinary stegosaur skull discovered in Riodeva (Teruel, Spain). The fossil, which comes from a plated dinosaur that lived about 150 million years ago, is also helping researchers propose a new explanation for how stegosaurs evolved and spread across the world.
Stegosaurs were plant-eating dinosaurs that walked on four legs and are best known for the rows of plates and spikes running from their necks to their tails. The newly studied fossil was uncovered during excavations led by Fundaci n Din polis at the "Est n de Col n" site within the Villar del Arzobispo Formation, which dates back to the Late Jurassic period.
Researchers identified the specimen as Dacentrurus armatus, one of Europe's most iconic stegosaurs. The fossil is considered the best-preserved stegosaur skull ever discovered in Europe, a remarkable achievement because dinosaur skulls are extremely delicate and rarely survive intact over millions of years.