Nicknamed ‘the scary one’ for his immense size and brutal eating habits, L lukalkan aliocranianus was a “fearsome killer” who roamed South America some 80 million years ago, according to paleontologists from the National University of San Luis in Argentina. in your new job.
The powerful predator featured a short, stunted skull and sharp teeth. Measuring five meters in length, it had massive claws and a keen sense of smell to track its prey, which it would have caught while moving at high speed thanks to its powerful hind legs.
With a similar “resemblance” to the famous tyrannosaurs, which ruled the northern hemisphere some 80 million years ago, it was probably among the top predators in Patagonia during the Late Cretaceous period.
L. aliocranianus represents not only a new species, but a new genus. Its full name comes from the native Mapuche for ‘the one who causes fear’ – (Llukalkan) and from the Latin for ‘different skull’ (aliocranianus). It was one of 10 abelisaurid species known to science that was flourishing on the southern continents. They were part of the larger theropod clade of huge bipedal carnivores with sharp claws.
“This is a particularly important discovery because it suggests that the diversity and abundance of abelisaurids were remarkable, not only in Patagonia, but also in more local areas during the period of the dinosaurs’ twilight,” explains Federico Gianechini, leader of the work. “This discovery also suggests that there are likely more abelisaurids out there that we haven’t found yet.”
Llukalkan’s fossilized remains include a superbly preserved skull. They were discovered in the Bajo de la Carpa Formation, in the Argentine province of Neuquén.
This new species is similar in many respects to Viavenator , except that it is smaller , and the holes in the skull through which the veins pass are larger and farther apart from the supraoccipital crest, a bone that forms the cage of the brain.
Referencia: Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology (2021). www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/1 … 2724634.2020.1877151
