Dromaeosaurids are a group of small to medium-sized feathered predatory dinosaurs that flourished in the Cretaceous period. These are dinosaurs that lived all over the world, but their bones are so small and delicate that they are rarely well preserved in the fossil record.
The dromaeosaurids of North America are believed to have their origin in Asia, and Alaska would have been a key region for the dispersal of their ancestors, hence the new fossil discovered in northern Alaska offers an interesting clue to understanding which types of dromaeosaurs inhabited this region.
"There are places where dinosaur fossils are so common that a piece of bone, in most cases, can no longer add anything scientifically informative," says Alfio Alessandro Chiarenza, a paleontologist at Imperial College London. "This is not the case with this specimen from Alaska."
"Even with such an incomplete jaw fragment, we were not only able to figure out the evolutionary relationships of this dinosaur, but also imagine something more about the biology of these animals and ultimately learn more about this ancient Arctic ecosystem," he clarifies. the expert.
The mandible found is 1.4 cm long and retains the tip of the lower jaw and two teeth. The researchers attributed the fossil to a saurornitolestoid dromaeosaurid.
Reference: AA Chiarenza et al. 2020. The first juvenile dromaeosaurid (Dinosauria: Theropoda) from Arctic Alaska. PLoS ONE 15 (7): e0235078; doi: 10.1371 / journal.pone.0235078
