Scientists have discovered that Megaraptors dominated Chilean Patagonia 70 million years ago | Technique

A Chilean American investigation has discovered the dinosaur that occupied the top of the food chain in a carnivore community that inhabited more than 70 million years ago, Chilean Patagonia.

A group of Chilean scientists, in alliance with researchers from the University of Texas, It was discovered that Megaraptors were the dominant dinosaurs in the community of carnivorous dinosaurs that inhabited Chilean Patagonia More than 70 million years ago.

Despite the many fossil finds that have been made so far in this area near Torres del Paine, in the Magallanes and Chilean Antarctic Regions, an essential part of this ecosystem remains missing and has not been identified: Predators that dominated the food chain in this chalk world.

investigating in University of Texasfollower University of Chilefollower Concepcion Universityfrom Chilean Antarctic Institute (INACH) And National Museum of Natural Historyof fossil artefacts salvaged in the Las River Valley sector of China in paleontology campaigns organized by INACH and carried out between 2016 and 2020.

Megaraptors: the top of the food chain

The remains found in Chilean Patagonia mainly correspond to Teeth and postcranial skeletal remains This represents a diverse community of carnivorous theropods that lived there between 66 and 75 million years ago, a time when the geography of this region was characterized by large river deltas and abundant vegetation.

Discovery These pieces allow us to say that megaraptors would have been at the top of the food chain for this ecosystem.which are predators similar to the famous dinosaurs, which They would have reached between 6 and 10 meters in length and weighed more than a ton.

How did they look?

“The main feature of their general morphology is that megaraptorans have long skulls and large arms with powerful claws.”Indicates Jared Amodio, Paleontology Network Researcher at the University of Chile.

Remains of teeth from the middle and posterior part of the nose, which belonged to different samples, were part of the findings analyzed in this study.

“One of the characteristics that has allowed us to identify with great confidence that they belong to megaraptorids is, first of all, that the teeth are very curved towards the back.”He said Jared Amodio, Paleontology Network Researcher at the University of Chile.

Secondly, that the distal part of the teeth, which faces the back of the nose, has many serrations, which are similar to a knife used for cutting meat, and the medial part does not. This is one of the main characteristics of megaraptorids.he added.