Edinburgh:
Ovirptorosaurs are funny dinosaurs, which look like flight -free birds. But these ancient animals are not just funny -looking fossils. As my team New research Shows, they can help us understand how our own forelims developed and challenged what scientists think about T Rex.
The wings were covered in wings and equipped with a strong, sharp beak, ovyrapterosaurus was in shape from a house of a house to giraffe. They can easily be wrong for birds if not for sharp claws on their hands. Used during oviraptorosaurs Cretaceous period (145 to 66 million years ago) and belonged to a group of dinosaurs TheropodsIt is primarily a group of meat -eating dinosaurs that include T Rex and Velosirapter with hollow bones.
Theropod dinosaurs and humans share a common feature: we walk on two legs and use our front organs for other functions other than walking. Although some dinosaurs – Springs – Spread their forelimbs in wings and used them for flight, others, Instead shrink themShort forelimbs, one or more fingers are missing, the most famous in T Rex, but many Other Theropods Apart from this, small weapons and hands developed.
There is a broad view among scientists of his contracted forealims as “waste” A paper of 1979This argues that T selected for the increased head and nindlimb shape in the T Rex and the weapon became small as a evolutionary biprodu. Therefore, when my team at the University of Edinburgh analyzed the pattern of Arm evolution in a group of ctoviraptorosoars, we expected that forelimb decrease and finger loss would be added.
instead, We got the oppositeOur study is the latest example of growing evidence that some of the theropods of the theropods maintained any kind of forelimbs CelebrationSo far, many peliytologists receive dinosaurs Develop small arms and lose their fingers Did this because they were not using them.
Ovirptorosaurs are the perfect group to study the disadvantage of the finger in theropods. Although modern birds did not develop directly from the ovyptorosaurus, they share many features with them. Ovirptorosaurs had toothless beaks, they were covered in wings, and they were sitting Cautious nestsArranged and partly buried in clean rings with their eggs. Most of these dinosaurs had long weapons with three claws on each hand, which were perfect for hunting. With an exception.
Oksoko avarsan There were stumpy weapons and only two functional fingers. It lived in Mongolia during the late Creteseous period (about 72–66 million years ago) and would have shared his residence with a huge relative of T. Rex. TarbosorusOxoco did – technically – a third issue, but it was a useless remaining when their ancestors needed all three fingers. In fact, Oxoco’s hands and forelimbs are similar to a T REX or A Tarbosorus Compared to any of its ovyptorosorian cousins.
It is important to understand how Theropod forlims developed because they are some animals, with humans, to become bipotaries. This means that they no longer rely on their forelimbs to roam around, whether it is from walking, climbing, or flying. Their weapons were free to develop new works. Many of them used their long arms and fingers For greedyOther people like Oxoco discovered various and more special tasks.
The research of my team, in which analyzed, was analyzed as to how the length of each hand changed over time, shows that these dinosaurs lost their third finger in a separate process to shorten their arms. It goes against the idea that their weapons were working. If their forelimbs shrink as ovirptorosaus were not using them, their fingers and forelimbs should have decreased at the same time. Instead, their arms have shrunk first.
Last research shows Expanded their limits During late Creteseas (about 100–94 million years ago). They left the region that is now in the Gobi Desert in South China northern China and southern Mongolia. The decrease in hand length occurred with this expansion in their range.
Then Okoko lost his third finger. Although some other closely related oviraptorosaus were relatively Short third fingersIn any of them it was not less in Oxoko.
In this group of dinosaurs, the lack of forelimb and the loss of finger can be due to the new habitat. Once they went to the Gobi Desert, they must have come against the challenges of new existence. For example, they may have to adapt to new food sources or various predators. Their new residence took the side of dinosaurs with some small arms and low fingers, allowing them to develop their stampies, two-finger-fledged forealimb.
We feel that he started using his arms for a new purpose. It is possible that Okoko used his arms to sculptOxoco may have lost its third finger, but its first finger is another story. This point is thicker and strong looking, finally with a large claw. We can see marks and streaks where its muscles were attached to its bones. They say that Okoko had strong weapons.
Instead of reaching and greedy like other ovyptorosaurus, Oxoco could use its small but powerful forelimbs for scratch-dining. It can be useful to find food, such as plant roots and insects, or to build nests in the ground.
The Holotype fossil of Okoco (fossil that leads to the naming of a new species) was the most important fossil in our analysis. Originally found by predators in Mongolia, it was almost lost to fossil science. Officials rescued it on the border of Mongolia in 2006 and was taken to the Institute of Pahalantology, but Was not fully studied until 2020This was Oxoko’s strange two -digit forelines that wanted us to check for the development of the finger.
Despite the similarity in the size and size of their forelimbs, it is unlikely that T Rex and Oxoco used their arms for the same thing. Oxoco was a small Herbivore. T Rex was a huge carnivorous – it was so large that it could not reach the ground to dig, even though he tried. But Oxoco shows us that Theropod forlims may decrease and lose digits without functional. And this question arises: Are T. Rex’s weapons as useless as they are often painted?
My team’s new research suggests that our initial perception – that is due to the function loss in the forealimb and digits deficiency in the ovyrapterosaurus – is perhaps wrong. Instead, the loss of arm-sizzling and finger is caused by adaptation of a new environment and adopting a new function. This is an example of how development can adapt forelimbs to suit different houses and uses.
It is also a step ahead of how Theropods developed such amazing variety of foreimb shapes and sizes.
(Author: Milli MeadPhD students in Paliantology and Evolution, University of edinburgh,
(Disclaimer statement: Milli Mead gets funding from the Swedish Research Council.)
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