A new species of dinosaur was announced. It was named after paleontologists in Spain unearthed fossils believed to be from around 150 million years ago.
New Dinosaur Species Oblitosaurus bunnueli
Spanish paleontologists discovered a new dinosaur species during excavations at the Barrihonda-El Humero site in the province of Teruel in the region of Aragon, eastern Spain. They claim that it is the biggest of its kind. It bears the name of renowned Spanish-Mexican director Luis Buñuel, Newsweek reported.
The hitherto undiscovered animal, given the name Oblitosaurus bunnueli, belongs to the ornithopod order of herbivorous creatures, one of the most prosperous and resilient dinosaur lineages. From over 200 million years ago to roughly 66 million years ago, ornithopods were abundant.
A team from the Teruel-Dinópolis Joint Paleontological Foundation in Spain claims that the newly discovered dinosaur represents a new genus and may have grown to be about 23 feet long. According to the experts, it is the largest ornithopod from Europe that can be dated to the Jurassic Period.
The Jurassic period it lasted around 145 million years, from the beginning of the Cretaceous to the conclusion of the Triassic, some 201 million years ago.
According to the researchers, Oblitosaurus was unusually massive for an ornithopod from this geological era. Its proportions resemble "more modern" ornithopods that lived 125 million years ago.
Since the fossilized bones under study have distinctive traits that set them apart from similar dinosaurs, lead study author Sergio Sánchez Fenollos said it allowed them to define new genus and ornithopod dinosaurs.
Oblitosaurus bunnueli is a very significant dinosaur for understanding and reconstructing the evolutionary history of this lineage because of these characteristics as well as others, like its size. All of this is done in the context of the European Jurassic, where fossils of this type of dinosaur are scarce.
Francisco Javier Verdú, a study co-author, said the most recent discovery helped scientists better comprehend the variety of this genus of dinosaurs during the Jurassic.
Palaeontologists from @Funda_Dinopolis have carried out new research published in @ZoolJLinnSoc . A new genus and species of an ornithopod dinosaur from the Late Jurassic is described. The scientists have named it Oblitosaurus bunnueli (1/3). https://t.co/Kon3rVAKRm pic.twitter.com/OB18uuiN31
— Fundación Dinópolis (@Funda_Dinopolis) July 18, 2023
New Dinosaur Species Had Gone Unnoticed
The new dinosaur's name means "Buñuel's forgotten lizard,"-paying tribute to influential film director Luis Buñuel (1900-1983), who was born in Teruel province.
The term alludes to the fact that ornithopod fossils from the Barrihonda-El Humero site had previously gone unreported because earlier finds had obscured them. These include the stegosaurus species Dacentrurus armatus and the giant dinosaur from the sauropod group to have been described in Europe so far.
Because of this, the new species of dinosaur is known as Oblitosaurus bunnueli, after Teruel-born Luis Buuel, one of the most renowned film directors in history, and the genus is called Oblitosaurus, which means "forgotten lizard," according to Alberto Cobos, managing director of the Dinópolis Foundation and a co-author of the study.
This release is unquestionably the most excellent way to mark the 25th anniversary of the Teruel-Dinópolis Joint Paleontological Foundation. It is also a great way to honor Luis Buuel on the occasion of his passing 40 years ago.
The study was published in the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society.
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