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From BBC:
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-11137905
From Wired:
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An aberrant island-dwelling theropod dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous of Romania
31 August 2010 Last updated at 07:24 ET
The dinosaur had two large claws on its feet
The dinosaur had two large claws on its feet
Fossils of a new type of dinosaur, which looks like a beefy version of the predatory Velociraptor, have been unearthed in Romania.
The stocky dinosaur lived some 70 million years ago; higher sea levels at this time would have made the region an island archipelago.
The animal is also notable for the two large and sharp claws on each foot; Velociraptor had just one.
It may have used these to rip apart its prey scientists believe.
The find is reported in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal.
It has been given the scientific name Balaur bondoc, which means "stocky dragon".
"Balaur might be one of the largest predators in this ecosystem," said co-author Zoltan Csiki from the University of Bucharest, Romania.
He said that while the 1.8m-2.1m (6-7ft) -long creature is extremely unusual, it is closely related to animals like Velociraptor and feathered dinosaurs uncovered in China.
The new Balaur fossil is a partial skeleton that includes leg, hip, backbone, arms, hand, rib, and tail bones.
It had a big toe with a large claw that it was able to extend - presumably used to slash prey - as well as a large claw on the second toe.
Balaur had short and stocky feet and legs, and the pelvis had enormous muscle attachment areas, indicating that it was adapted for strength rather than speed.
Some bones in the animal's hand are fused, features that would have made grasping difficult.
Stephen Brusatte, a graduate student at Columbia University in Palisades, US, said: "Compared to Velociraptor, [this dinosaur] was probably more of a kickboxer than a sprinter, and it might have been able to take down larger animals than itself, as many carnivores do today."
However, researchers stressed that it was difficult to tell how it hunted or what the animal ate.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-11137905
From Wired:
New Predatory Dinosaur Discovered in Romania
By Jess McNally August 30, 2010 | 3:40 pm | Categories: Animals
A stocky, two-clawed relative of Velociraptor and feathered dinosaurs has been discovered in Romania. Balaur bondoc,which means stocky dragon, is the first meat-eating dinosaur to be described that lived in Europe during the final 60 million years of the Age of Dinosaurs.
“Balaur might be one of the largest predators in this ecosystem because not even a big tooth has been found in Romania after over a hundred years of research,” paleontologist Zoltan Csiki of the University of Bucharest in Romania said in a press release. Csiki is the lead researcher of the discovery announced Aug. 30 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The new dinosaur was about 6 to 7 feet long. It had functional big toes with large claws — presumably for slashing prey — in addition to a claw on the second toe that is typical of the group of dinosaurs. Its feet and legs were short and stocky, with bones fused together, and large muscle attachment areas on its pelvis, indicating the dinosaur was built for strength over speed. Its hands were atrophied, so Balaur likely used its feet rather than its hands to grasp prey.
“Its anatomy shows that it probably hunted in a different way than its less stocky relatives,” said paleontologist Stephan Brusatte of Columbia University in a press release. “Compared to Velociraptor, Balaur was probably more of a kick boxer than a sprinter, and it might have been able to take down larger animals than itself, as many carnivores do today.”
During the era that Balaur lived, sea levels were so high that much of Europe was under water and Romania was an island. Dinosaurs evolved there in relative isolation, with the occasional exchange of creatures between there and mainland Asia, says Csiki. Some of the other dinosaurs that have been found there from this time are dwarf sauropods the size of cows and tiny duck-billed dinosaurs.
According to Csiki, fragmentary remains of Balaur were already known for more than 10 years, but the morphology was so bizarre that scientists didn’t know how to fit them together.
Images: 1) Csiki et al. 2) A sketch of Velociraptor mongoliensis, a feathered relative of B. bondoc that lived in Asia during the Late Cretaceous./PaleoPortfolio.
Read More New Predatory Dinosaur Discovered in Romania | Wired Science | Wired.com
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An aberrant island-dwelling theropod dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous of Romania
