Fona HerzogaeA dinosaur recently discovered in Utah that likely lived partly underground, due to anatomical adaptations and frequent fossil preservation in its burrows, has transformed our understanding of life in the Cretaceous period. Photo by Jorge Gonzalez
Discovery of the Middle Ages burrowing dinosaur Phona herzogaeCretaceous This era reveals complex ecosystems in which dinosaurs occupied subterranean niches, highlighting dinosaur diversity and ecological adaptability and expanding our understanding of the role of dinosaurs in ancient environments.
The age of dinosaurs did not only take place on land. The newly discovered ancestor of dinosaurs Thescelosaurus These animals apparently spent part of their time in underground burrows. seed It improves our understanding of life both above and below ground during the Mid-Cretaceous Period.
New dinosaurs, Fona [/Foat’NAH/] Herzogae They lived 99 million years ago in what is now the state of Utah. At the time, the area was a vast floodplain ecosystem between a huge inland sea to the east and active volcanoes and mountains to the west. It was a warm, wet, muddy environment, cut through by numerous rivers.
Paleontologist North Carolina State University The North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences has excavated this fossil and other specimens of the same species in the Mussentuchtit Formation of the Cedar Mountain Formation since 2013. The preservation of these fossils and some characteristics led them to realize they may have been burrowing.
Physical Features and Evidence of Burrowing
Fona It was a herbivorous dinosaur with a simple body shape, about the size of a large dog. It did not have the flashy ornaments seen in its more ornamented relatives, such as horned dinosaurs, armored dinosaurs, and crowned dinosaurs. Fona it was boring.
Fona It shares several anatomical features with animals known for digging and burrowing, including large biceps, strong muscle attachments in the hips and legs, fused bones along the pelvis (probably helping with stability while digging), and hind limbs that are proportionally larger than the forelimbs, but that’s not the only evidence that this animal spent time underground.
3D printed Fona skull. Photo by Lindsay Zanno.
“The fossil record is biased toward large animals, mainly because in floodplain environments like Mussentucht, small bones at the surface are often scattered, rotted, or scavenged before being buried and fossilized,” says Habib Abrahami, a doctoral student at North Carolina State University and digital engineer for the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences’ new Dueling Dinosaurs program. Abrahami is first author of a paper describing the research.
“but Fona “These dinosaurs are often found in very good condition and complete, with many of their bones preserved in the position they were in when they died, with their chest down and their forelimbs spread,” Avrahami said. “If they were already in a burrow underground before they died, they would have been more likely to be preserved like this.”
Lindsay Zanno, associate research professor at North Carolina State University, director of paleontology at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, and corresponding author of the study, agrees.
“Fona “Skeletons of small animals with weak bones are much more common in this area than we would expect,” Zanno said. “The best explanation for why we found so many skeletons, and why we recovered multiple individuals in small bundles, is that they were underground, at least some of the time. Essentially, Fona did the hard work for us by burying itself underground throughout this region.”
Although researchers have yet to identify the underground burrow, Fonathe tunnels and chambers of its closest relatives, OryctodromeusIt was discovered in Idaho and Montana. These discoveries Fona They also used burrows.
Fona HerzogaeCredit: Jorge Gonzalez
The cultural and scientific importance of phona
Genus name Fona The species is named after the creation story of the Chamorro people, the indigenous people of Guam and the Mariana Islands in the Pacific. Fona and Pontan were brother and sister explorers who discovered the island and became land and air. The species name honors Lisa Herzog, manager of paleontology operations at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, for her outstanding contributions and dedication to the field of paleontology.
“I wanted to pay homage to the indigenous mythology of Guam, where my Chamorro ancestors are from,” Abrahami says. “In the myth, when Fona died she became part of the land and new life sprang from her body. For me, that ties into fossilization, beauty, and creation.” Fona It was probably covered in colorful feathers, and the species was named after Lisa Herzog, who was integral to this research and discovered one of the most exceptional species. Fona Several specimens preserved together in what was probably a burrow.”
Fona It is also a distant relative of Willo, another famous North Carolina fossil. Thescelosaurus neglectus The specimen, now housed in a museum, is also thought to have been adapted to a semi-cryptic, or partially underground, lifestyle. The study was published in late 2023 by Zanno and David Button, a former postdoctoral researcher at North Carolina State University.
“T. ignore At the end of this lineage was Fona “It’s an ancestor from about 35 million years ago,” Avrahami says.
The researchers Fona It is key to improving our understanding of Cretaceous ecosystems.
“Fona “This discovery gives us insight into the three-dimensional space that animals can occupy by moving underground,” Abrahami said, “adding to the richness of the fossil record and expanding the known diversity of small herbivores, a crucial yet poorly understood component of Cretaceous ecosystems.”
“People tend to have a myopic view of dinosaurs that hasn’t kept pace with advances in science,” Zanno says. “We now know that dinosaur diversity ranged from small arboreal gliding animals and nocturnal hunters to sloth-like herbivores and, of course, animals that hid underground.”
Reference: “A new subfossil thescelosaurine dinosaur from the Cenomanian Mussenchutit Formation of the Cedar Mountain Formation, Utah,” Haviv M. Avrahami, Peter J. Makovicky, Ryan T. Tucker, Lindsay E. Zanno, July 9, 2024, Anatomy record.
Publication date: 10.1002/ar.25505
