'Exquisitely preserved' ginormous claws from Mongolia reveal strange evolution in dinosaurs
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A new species of dinosaur with strange claws has been unearthed in Mongolia by paleontologists.
This new genus and species is a therizinosaur, plant-eating, two-legged giants with long claws, and was discovered buried in the Gobi Desert, according to a new study published Tuesday (March 25) in the journal iScience.
Unlike other therizinosaurs, which have three fingers on their hands equipped with long, sharp claws, this new species only has two fingers. This unique anatomy inspired its scientific name, named Duonychus tsogtbaatari, which is Greek for "two digits" and honors the Mongolian paleontologist Khishigjav Tsogtbaatar.
"Many species of therizinosaurs have been discovered, and this group had pretty much been defined by their three-fingered hands sporting large claws," study co-author Darla Zelenitsky, a paleontologist at the University of Calgary in Canada, told Live Science in an email. "To find a specimen with only two fingers/claws was surprising as this was so out of the ordinary for this group of dinosaurs."
Related: 166 million-year-old fossil found on Isle of Skye belongs to pony-size dinosaur from Jurassic
Therizinosaurs are a group of dinosaurs that lived across what is now Asia and North America during the Late Cretaceous Period (100 million to 66 million years ago). Despite being part of the theropod group of dinosaurs — typically associated with carnivorous dinosaurs like Tyrannosaurus rex — therizinosaurs were herbivorous. These dinosaurs are known for their enormous, sickle-shaped claws, with some species growing talons as long as 20 inches (50 centimeters).
All other therizinosaurs that have previously been discovered, including Therizinosaurus and Beipiaosaurus, have three clawed fingers on their hands, making the discovery of two-clawed D. tsogtbaatari unusual.
"Therizinosaurs are already some of the most unusual dinosaurs out there, but Duonychus tsogtbaatari takes it to another level," study lead author Yoshitsugu Kobayashi, a paleontologist at Hokkaido University in Japan, told Live Science in an email. "This newly discovered species from Mongolia breaks the mold with just two fingers instead of the typical three, offering a rare glimpse into how theropod hands evolved and adapted." "But what truly makes this discovery exciting is the incredibly well-preserved keratinous sheath on its claw — the first such case in a medium- to large-sized theropod dinosaur," Kobayashi added.
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Claws of the newly discovered Duonychus tsogtbaatari fossil. This species is the first therizinosaur to have been found with only two clawed fingers.
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Duonychus tsogtbaatari fossil claw during excavation.
The new fossil was unearthed during the construction of a water pipeline in the Bayanshiree Formation in Ömnögovi Province, southern Mongolia. The specimen had excellently preserved hands, with a 3D sheath where the claw — made out of keratin, like our fingernails — would have been. Parts of the arms, spine and hips were also preserved.
"The hands, a hallmark of therizinosaurs, are exquisitely preserved with all the finger and wrist bones intact in this specimen," Zelenitsky said. "Even the keratinous sheath of the claw is preserved revealing how big and sharp its claws really were."
Other species of dinosaur, such as T. rex, had two fingers, but this marks the first time a therizinosaur has been found with fewer than three digits. This species likely evolved to lose one of the three fingers of its ancestors, the study authors suggested.
The researchers think that D. tsogtbaatari may have evolved this unique hand in order to better grip vegetation, allowing for more efficient feeding.
"The loss of the third finger in Duonychus tsogtbaatari might actually have made its remaining two fingers even better at what they were designed for — grasping," Kobayashi said. "Based on the shape of its well-preserved claw and how it curved, Duonychus was likely using its hands to grab onto branches and pull vegetation closer, kind of like how chameleons do today." "We think many therizinosaurs may have used their hands for foraging in a 'hook-and-pull' motion, but Duonychus takes this to another level with its extreme claw structure."
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Additionally, Kobayashi suggested that the claws may have played other roles, such as in "defense, courtship, or even play."
The researchers are thrilled by this discovery, as it not only reveals unexpected diversity within therizinosaurs, but also marks the fifth time that a theropod dinosaur group has evolved to lose their third finger.
"While more fossils would help confirm this, all signs point to Duonychus representing a true evolutionary shift, not just a fluke," Kobayashi said. "It's a remarkable find that reshapes our understanding of therizinosaurs and theropod evolution as a whole."
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Tyrannosaurs, known scientifically as Eutyrannosaurians, bring to mind hulking dinosaurs like Tyrannosaurus rex and Tarbosaurus, which weighed multiple metric tons and could take down equally large prey. With short arms and massive heads, they walked on two legs and boasted sharp teeth, Zelenitsky said. But tyrannosaurs didn't start out that way. They evolved from smaller dinosaurs before dominating the landscapes of North America and Asia between 85 million and 66 million years ago, the researchers said. While Tarbosaurus, an ancestor of T. rex, clocked in at between 3,000 and 6,000 kilograms (6,613 pounds and 13,227 pounds), the fleet-footed Khankhuuluu mongoliensis likely weighed only around 750 kilograms (1,653 pounds), spanned just 2 meters (6.5 feet) at the hips and 4 meters (13 feet) in length, according to the study authors. Comparing the two dinosaurs would be like putting a horse next to an elephant —Khankhuuluu would have reached T. rex's thigh in height, Zelenitsky said. 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Meanwhile, another tyrannosaur species crossed the land bridge back to Asia 78 million years ago, resulting in the evolution of two related but very different subgroups of tyrannosaurs, Zelenitsky said. One was a gigantic, deep-snouted species, while the other known as Alioramins was slender and small. These smaller dinosaurs have been dubbed 'Pinocchio rexes' for their long, shallow snouts. Both types of tyrannosaurs were able to live in Asia and not compete with each other because the larger dinosaurs were top predators, while Alioramins were mid-level predators going after smaller prey — think cheetahs or jackals in African ecosystems today, Zelenitsky said. 'Because of their small size, Alioramins were long thought to be primitive tyrannosaurs, but we novelly show Alioramins uniquely evolved smallness as they had 'miniaturized' their bodies within a part of the tyrannosaur family tree that were all otherwise giants,' Zelenitsky said. One more migration happened as tyrannosaurs continued to evolve, and a gigantic tyrannosaur species crossed back into North America 68 million years ago, resulting in Tyrannosaurus rex, Zelenitsky said. 'The success and diversity of tyrannosaurs is thanks to a few migrations between the two continents, starting with Khankhuuluu,' she said. 'Tyrannosaurs were in the right place at the right time. They were able to take advantage of moving between continents, likely encountering open niche spaces, and quickly evolving to become large, efficient killing machines.' The new findings support previous research suggesting that Tyrannosaurus rex's direct ancestor originated in Asia and migrated to North America via a land bridge and underscore the importance of Asia in the evolutionary success of the tyrannosaur family, said Cassius Morrison, a doctoral student of paleontology at University College London. Morrison was not involved in the new research. 'The new species provides essential data and information in part of the family tree with few species, helping us to understand the evolutionary transition of tyrannosaurs from small/ medium predators to large apex predators,' Morrison wrote in an email. The study also shows that the Alioramini group, once considered distant relatives, were very close cousins of T. rex. What makes the fossils of the new species so crucial is their age — 20 million years older than T. rex, said Steve Brusatte, professor and personal chair of Palaeontology and Evolution at the University of Edinburgh. Brusatte was not involved in the new study. 'There are so few fossils from this time, and that is why these scientists describe it as 'murky,'' Brusatte said. 'It has been a frustrating gap in the record, like if you suspected something really important happened in your family history at a certain time, like a marriage that started a new branch of the family or immigration to a new country, but you had no records to document it. The tyrannosaur family tree was shaped by migration, just like so many of our human families.' With only fragments of fossils available, it's been difficult to understand the variation of tyrannosaurs as they evolved, said Thomas Carr, associate professor of biology at Carthage College in Wisconsin and director of the Carthage Institute of Paleontology. Carr was not involved in the new research. But the new study sheds light on the dinosaurs' diversity and clarifies which ones existed when — and how they overlapped with one another, he said. More samples from the fossil record will provide additional clarity, but the new work illustrates the importance of reexamining fossils collected earlier. 'We know so much more about tyrannosaurs now,' Carr said. 'A lot of these historical specimens are definitely worth their weight in gold for a second look.' When the fossils were collected half a century ago, they were only briefly described at the time, Brusatte said. 'So many of us in the paleontology community knew that these Mongolian fossils were lurking in museum drawers, waiting to be studied properly, and apt to tell their own important part of the tyrannosaur story,' he said. 'It's almost like there was a non-disclosure agreement surrounding these fossils, and it's now expired, and they can come out and tell their story.'
