Paleontologists have identified a new species of dinosaur that is declared as the most recent species of dinosaur until today. This sauropod species, named Galeamopus pabsti has evolved 150 million years ago, as described by the researchers from Italy and Portugal.
The evidence was analyzed by the group of paleontologists from the Department of Earth Sciences of the University of Turin in Italy, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, and the Museum of Lourinhã in Portugal. In the journal of PeerJ, researchers mentioned that the specimen of Galeamopus pabsti was first discovered by a swiss team led by Hans-Jakob "Kirby" Siber and Ben Pabst from the excavation site of Wyoming, the United States in 1995.
Paleontologists Emanuel Tschopp and Octávio Mateus started studies on this species in 2012 and finally declared the characteristics on May 2, Tuesday. According to Science daily, Galeamopus pabsti is one of the closest relatives of famous dinosaur Diplodocus. However, their legs were more massive and the high and triangular neck close to their head.
Galeamopus pabsti is the second species of Galeamopus genus and the first one is discovered in 2015 and it was also reinstated with the genus brontosaurus. However, it is totally different from Diplodocus, as described by the same researcher. Researchers dedicated the name of newly discovered species to Ben Pabst, who first unearthed the skeleton from the excavation site.
Pabst restored and mounted the parts at Sauriermuseum Aathal in Switzerland. Besides Galeamopus pabsti, Diplodocid sauropod is classified as one of the most iconic dinosaur species. Elongated necks and tails represent their body feature as a typical body shape of a sauropod. Researchers confirmed that the species used to live in Africa, South America, and Europe along with 15 other species of dinosaurs which also includes Brontosaurus. Now researchers are studying on different aspects to understand how such a diversity could be maintained by the ecosystem in which they lived.
