These traces of approximately 100 million years ago belong to the ankilosaurids of the armored dinosaur family with a bony bun at the end of his tail and fed by the plant.
According to experts, these traces point to a previously unknown species: Ruopodosaurus Clava.
Footprints Found at Tumbler Rıdge UNESCO Geopark
According to Sciencealert; The traces were found around the Tumbler Ridge, who won the fame after the young discovery Mark Turner and Daniel Helm found the first dinosaur footprints in the region in 2000. Most of the new footprints were discovered in Tumbler Ridge UNESCO global geopark, while one was discovered in the west of Alberta.
The traces are preserved in the non -sea sediment of Dunvegan and Kaskapau formations dated to the Cretaceous period. At that time, today’s mountainous region was a delta plain full of channels. This created an environment suitable for the protection of dinosaur footprints left in the muddy terrain.
Five front finger, three rear fingers
Paleontologist Victoria Arbour, who took part in the study, said that traces belong to a new genre called Ruopodosaurus Clava. In the scars examined by digital photogrammetry method, it was found that the tips of the hind foot (pes) were blunt and triangular or u form, and the front foot (manus) scars were five -finger and crescent.
Arbour, “We don’t know exactly how it looks, but this dinosaur was about 5-6 meters long, prickly and armored, having a hard or bun tail,” he said.
The first ankilosaurid proof of the middle cretaceous period in North America
Researchers point out that this discovery also fills the gap caused by the lack of ankyosaurid fossils of 100 to 84 million years ago in North America. Previously, this species was thought to have disappeared from the continent at that time. However, the traces of Ruopodosaurus Clava prove that Ankilosaurids live in the region during this period.
Tumbler Ridge Museum Science Advisor Charles Helm said, “Through this research, it is very exciting to learn that two different Ankilosaur species have lived in this region. Moreover, Ruopodosaurus could only be defined in this region.”
The results of the study were published in Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.
