Researchers working in tardy Cretaceous sediments of southern China have unearthed a raw metal money of oviraptorosaur with a sound out crest on its top dog . The finding , put out inNaturethis week , hint that these rare oviraptorosaurs were in reality quite widespread across Asia .
Oviraptorosaurs were a group of feathered dinosaur with distinctive short , pick skull and no tooth – good for squash hard food for thought . This group mostly lived in Cretaceous Asia and North America , and they ranged from the size of Republic of Turkey to eight meters in duration . Since the first discovery ofOviraptorin 1924 , more than 30 other genus have been cover . These misunderstood dinosaur were named “ egg stealer lizard ” because some fogy were found with eggs . However , later on work unveil that they were n’t stealing and eating them , they were nest their own .
A team led by Junchang Lü from theChinese Academy of Geological Sciencesexamined the skull ( perfect with lower jaw ) and a partial systema skeletale unearthed at a expression site for the Ganzhou Railway Station in Ganzhou , Jiangxi Province . ( In this image of the skull , the neck is on the right field and continues to extend downwards , and the nozzle is facing the left hand . ) The specimen is different enough from other cover oviraptorosaurs that were also happen upon in the Upper Cretaceous Nanxiong Formation , warranting a young coinage .
They distinguish itHuanansaurus ganzhouensisafter “ Huanan ” for south China , and Ganzhou , where the dinosaur was disclose . Like some other oviraptorosaurs , Huanansaurushad a bony crest on the top of its header . However , the fresh dinosaur has a dissimilar jaw structure than other member of Oviraptoridae , which may indicate slightly dissimilar foraging strategies .
Based on their phylogenetic analysis , the researchers say that the novel metal money is closely touch on toCitipati osmolskae . This oviraptorid was find in the Omnogovi Province of southern Mongolia about 3,000 kilometer aside . Because of their similarities and this immense distance , the squad thinks similar habitat must have existed across the Asiatic continent at the ending of the Mesozoic Era some 65 million year ago , grant oviraptorid to fly high throughout terrestrial ecosystem .
Close - up of the phalanx of the right and leave alone hand . Junchang Lü
Images : Chuang Zhao ( top ) , Junchang Lü ( middle , bottom )
