A New Species Of Dinosaur With Strange Claws Has Been Discovered In The Gobi Desert
In Mongolia, a new species of dinosaur with strange claws has been unearthed by paleontologists. It was discovered in the Gobi Desert.
The new genus and species is a therizinosaur, a plant-eating, two-legged giant with long claws. It stood about 10 feet tall and would have weighed 573 pounds.
Other therizinosaurs have three fingers on their hands, but this newfound species only has two, inspiring its name of Duonychus tsogtbaatari, which is Greek for “two digits.” The name also honors the Mongolian paleontologist Khishigjav Tsogtbaatar.
“Many species of therizinosaurs have been discovered, and this group had pretty much been defined by their three-fingered hands sporting large claws,” Darla Zelenitsky, a co-author of the study and a paleontologist at the University of Calgary in Canada.
“To find a specimen with only two fingers/claws was surprising as this was so out of the ordinary for this group of dinosaurs.”
During the Late Cretaceous period (100 million to 66 million years), therizinosaurs were a group of dinosaurs that lived across what is now North America and Asia.
Although they were part of the theropod group of dinosaurs, which was often associated with carnivorous dinosaurs like Tyrannosaurus rex, therizinosaurs were herbivorous.
Some species had talons that grew as long as 20 inches. All other therizinosaurs that have been discovered have three-clawed fingers, so the two-clawed D. tsogtbaatari is unique. The find sheds some light on how theropod hands evolved.
“But what truly makes this discovery exciting is the incredibly well-preserved keratinous sheath on its claw—the first such case in a medium- to large-sized theropod dinosaur,” said Yoshitsugu Kobayashi, a lead author of the study and a paleontologist at Hokkaido University in Japan.
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The new fossil was uncovered during the construction of a water pipeline in the Bayanshiree Formation in Õmnögovi Province, located in southern Mongolia. The hands of the specimen were particularly well-preserved.
The sheath of the claw, which is made of keratin, was also preserved and revealed how big and sharp the creature’s claws really were. Parts of the hips, spine, and arms were intact as well.
The species likely evolved to lose one of its three fingers in order to better grip vegetation, similar to what chameleons do today. The claws may have served alternative purposes, such as defense, play, and courtship.
The recently discovered specimen showcases unexpected diversity within therizinosaurs and marks the fifth time that a theropod dinosaur group evolved to lose its third finger.
More fossils would help confirm the finding, but the evidence demonstrates that Duonychus is an example of a major evolutionary shift.
Overall, the new species has reshaped scientific understanding of therizinosaurs and theropod evolution in general.
The details of the new study were published in the journal iScience.
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