Report by Shuchi Giridhar
One of the most recognizable kind of Dinosaurs are armoured dinosaurs.
Like the Stegosaurus and Ankylosaurus, some famous dinosaurs are mainly recognized by their spiky armour. The first such dinosaur to be discovered was of the species Ankylosaurus.
It was discovered in West Sussex(UK) and was known as Hylaeosaurus. But recently, a never before known species of dinosaur, that existed earlier than the other well known species of dinosaurs, has been discovered.
This species is helping scientists understand the time and place where armored dinosaurs originated from. Prof. Paul Barrett and his Chinese colleagues were among the first dinosaur researchers who helped describe how the newly found species looked.
Many parts of the armour, some parts of the skull , the vertebrate, and its complete skeleton, were part of the newly found fossils.
These were the earliest, most well preserved examples of armored dinosaur fossils from Asia. The armor shows that it belongs to the same group as Ankylosaurus and Stegosaurus. Its age indicates that it would be the common ancestor of these two dinosaurs.
The dinosaur has been named Yuxisaurus kopchicki and a paper describing the dinosaur has been published in the journal eLife.
The scientists have come up with a theory of its origin. They say that during the Jurassic period, herbivorous dinosaurs evolved to protect themselves, and ended up growing spikes. These dinosaurs looked like an Ankylosaurus on one side and Stegosaurus on the other.
While Stegosaurs have spikes on the back and tail and are large and bulky, Ankylosaurs are about the size of coffee tables and have spiky plates all around their backs.
It is believed that Ankylosaurs and Stegosaurs evolved from a common ancestor but it was debated which dinosaur was this ‘ancestor’.
Because of this, they have been known as Thyreophorans, which means shield-bearers.
Prof. Barrett said that his colleagues first found this Dinosaur species in Yunnan located in southwest China. The fossils were found to be from 192-174 million years ago. Prof. Barrett also said that researchers thought that the development and evolution of Stegosaurs and Ankylosaurs was from the north but new study and data prove this theory as wrong.
You can check out the dino entry at the privately maintained Dino Database also.
All images from the original paper submitted by the authors to elife journal.
