Aerosteon

Outline reconstruction, type and location of the found fragments of Aerosteon riocoloradensis

Aerosteon ( Gr. eros " air " osteon " bone " ) is a genus theropod dinosaurs ( Theropoda ) from the Upper Cretaceous of South America.

The fossil remains of this dinosaur were found in Argentina in 1996 about one kilometer north of the Río Colorado in the province of Mendoza, 2008 by Paul Sereno et al. described. It is only the type species A. riocoloradensis known whose epithet refers to the locality.

Features

Aerosteon was about a nine-meter long theropod that lived about 86-84 million years ago during the Upper Cretaceous ( Santonian ). Like all theropods, he moved away biped ( two-legged ) and fed on meat. Among the found fossil remains include a single tooth, some skull bones, some partially or completely preserved vertebrae of the neck, back and sacrum, ribs, belly ribs ( Gastralia ), fork leg, the left ilium and the left and right pubic bone. The bones show that the animal was not fully grown. Some of the bones, including the wishbone and the ilium were pneumatized and show evidence of respiration similar to that of birds.

Sereno assumes that the air bag system initially developed to regulate the body temperature ( thermoregulation ) and later taken over for breathing and further developed (the breathing mechanics of birds) was.

System

Aerosteon probably did not belong to one of the -based at this time on the southern continents dinosaur groups ( Abelisauridae, Carcharodontosauridae, Spinosauridae ). He may belong to a new group or be a surviving basal Tetanure. Sereno suggested a relationship with the Allosauroidea of the Jura.

Source

  • Sereno PC, Martinez RN, Wilson JA, Varricchio DJ, Alcober OA, et al.: Evidence for Avian intrathoracic Air Sacs in a New Predatory Dinosaur from Argentina .. In: PLoS ONE. 3, No. 9, Sept 2008, pp. e3303. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0003303. Retrieved on 29 September 2008.
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