Latest news with #UpperCretaceous
Daily Tribune
3 days ago
- Science
- Daily Tribune
Scientists find 74-million-yearold mammal fossil in Chile
Scientists have discovered the fossil of a tiny mousesized mammal that lived in the time of the dinosaurs in Chilean Patagonia. 'Yeutherium pressor ' weighed between 30 and 40 grams (about one ounce) and lived in the Upper Cretaceous period, about 74 million years ago. It is the smallest mammal ever found in this region of South America, dating back to the era when it was part of a continental land mass known as Gondwana. The fossil consists of 'a small piece of jaw with a molar and the crown and roots of two other molars,' said Hans Puschel, who led the team of scientists from the University of Chile and Chile's Millennium Nucleus research center on early mammals. The discovery was published this month in the British scientific journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B. Researchers found the fossil in the Rio de las Las Chinas Valley in Chile's Magallanes region, about 3,000 kilometers (1 ,864 miles) south of Santiago. Despites its similarity to a small rodent, 'Yeutherium pressor' was a mammal that must have laid eggs, like the platypus, or carried its young in a pouch like kangaroos or opossums. The shape of its teeth suggests that it probably had a diet of relatively hard vegetables. Just like the dinosaurs with whom it co-existed, the tiny mammal abruptly went extinct at the end of the Cretaceous period, about 66 million years ago. This illustration, created by Mauricio Alvarez and obtained from Universidad de Chile depicts the 'Yeutherium pressor,' an animal that lived during the Late Cretaceous period, approximately 74 million years ago.
RTÉ News
4 days ago
- Science
- RTÉ News
Scientists find 74-million-year-old mammal fossil in Chile
Scientists have discovered the fossil of a tiny mouse-sized mammal that lived in the time of the dinosaurs in Chilean Patagonia. "Yeutherium pressor" weighed between 30 and 40 grams and lived in the Upper Cretaceous period, about 74 million years ago. It is the smallest mammal ever found in this region of South America, dating back to the era when it was part of a continental land mass known as Gondwana. The fossil consists of "a small piece of jaw with a molar and the crown and roots of two other molars," said Hans Puschel, who led the team of scientists from the University of Chile and Chile's Millennium Nucleus research centre on early mammals. The discovery was published this month in the British scientific journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B. Researchers found the fossil in the Rio de las Las Chinas Valley in Chile's Magallanes region, about 3,000km south of Santiago. Despites its similarity to a small rodent, "Yeutherium pressor" was a mammal that must have laid eggs, like the platypus, or carried its young in a pouch like kangaroos or opossums. The shape of its teeth suggests that it probably had a diet of relatively hard vegetables. Just like the dinosaurs with whom it co-existed, the tiny mammal abruptly went extinct at the end of the Cretaceous period, about 66 million years ago.
Jordan News
30-04-2025
- Jordan News
Head of Petra Region Commission Explores "Dinosaur Trail" in Al-Saffaha - Jordan News
The Petra Region Authority continues to explore and develop unique tourist trails aimed at diversifying tourism products and enhancing adventure tourism. One of these trails passes through an archaeological site from the dinosaur era, making it a distinctive location with preserved dinosaur footprints embedded within the Naur Formation rocks from the Upper Cretaceous (Cenomanian) period, dating back 94 to 100 million years, according to an international research team from Jordan and Poland, led by Hendrik Klein and Gerard Gierliński, with the participation of Jordanian researchers, including Dr. Abdullah Abu Hamad, Habes Al-Mashaqqa, and Ikhlas Al-Hayyari. اضافة اعلان This marks the first scientific documentation of dinosaur trails in Jordan. Dr. Fares Al-Brezat, Chairman of the Petra Region Authority, confirmed that this trail will provide a unique and valuable addition to the tourism product in the "Golden Triangle," which includes Petra, Wadi Rum, and Aqaba. This will enhance Jordan's position as a key adventure tourism destination on both regional and global levels, and support efforts to extend the length of visitors' stays in the area. The trail also targets new groups of local tourists, particularly younger people interested in dinosaurs. Al-Brezat noted that once completed, this new trail will offer an unparalleled exploratory experience for visitors to Petra, while also contributing to the empowerment of local communities by providing new economic and development opportunities, in line with the Authority's strategy to promote sustainable development in the Petra District and its surroundings. It is noteworthy that the discovered dinosaur footprints in the area are among the rarest finds in the Middle East. They are spread across ancient marine rock layers and feature tracks from three main groups of dinosaurs: theropods, sauropods, and ornithopods, giving the site both scientific and tourist significance. Al-Brezat had previously conducted a field visit to the Al-Saffaha and Ras Al-Fayd areas in Al-Heisha, located in the northwestern boundaries of the region, accompanied by Infrastructure Commissioner Engineer Mohammad Al-Habhabah, along with several relevant department heads from the Authority, as well as Moayad Abu Rumman, Director of the Jordanian Heritage Revival Company, and Mohammad Asfour, President of the Wadi Association for Sustainable Ecosystem Development.
Jordan News
06-04-2025
- Science
- Jordan News
The discovery of insects in gypsum in Jordan. - Jordan News
The discovery of insects in gypsum in Jordan. The researcher Abbas Haddadin discovered three types of Virgin larvae and a whole insect in gypsum in Almojeb area south of Jordan dating back to the second geological time of the Upper Cretaceous, gypsum is calcium sulfate, which is one of the rocks that formed in water, especially in swamps, the water evaporates leaving calcium sulfate in the form of transparent crystals called gypsum in the swamp of Almojeb lived insect larvae with some aquatic insects when the marsh water evaporates, the gypsum crystals remain inside, and the insect larvae that used to live in the water swamp, the bacteria could not decompose these larvae because gypsum is a preservative that kills bacteria, so the larvae and insects remained the same and did not decompose, as we see in the attached picture, this area where the larvae found a known area and a specific age from 90 million sea urchins in previous studies a wing of a grass Hopper was found in gypsum in 1910-1915 in Australia in the state of Queensland and was written about by and his colleagues also wrote about this wing in 1922, Tony Forsyth titled The Wing of an insect in gypsum, and they also found a larva of atmospheric tremor in gypsum crystals in northern Italy dating back 23 million years ago, and two scientists wrote about it in 2001, Rolf schlater and the scientist Kokring Thomas, this is only what they found in gypsum in the world, in addition to the four insects of the researcher Abbas Haddadin, which he discovered in gypsum in the Almojeb area. اضافة اعلان
Yahoo
27-03-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
New 2-clawed dinosaur discovered in Mongolia
(NewsNation) — A new dinosaur has been discovered in Mongolia, one that sported two large claws measuring about a foot long on its front feet. The dinosaur has been named Duonychus tsogtbaatari, which translates to 'Tsogtbaatar's two-claw,' honoring paleontologist Khishigjav Tsogtbaatar. It was discovered by Yoshitsugu Kobayashi and his colleagues, and the fossil is between 96 and 90 million years old. The Duonychus fossil was initially located in 2012, and an international team of researchers released a paper on the fossil in Science this month. White House withdrawing Stefanik nomination to serve as US ambassador to UN The dinosaur lived in Mongolia's Gobi Desert during the Upper Cretaceous period. The fossil is incomplete, preserving the forelimbs and hips, part of the shoulder girdle and vertebrae from the back, hip and tail base. The fossilized remains add more diversity to a group of dinosaurs that is already strange. Therizinosaurs are mostly found in Asia, largely from the Cretaceous period and were bipedal, with long necks, short tails, deep, wide hips and clawed, feathered forelimbs. Therizinosaurs are part theropods, the group that contains all predatory dinosaurs, and part of the subgroup maniraptorans, which includes birds, velociraptors and oviraptors. How will Trump's auto tariffs affect car prices? Duonychus was a midsize species, likely weighing about 575 pounds and measuring 10 feet. Unlike the more famous therapods like Tyrannosaurus rex, therizinosaurs were likely herbivorous and had leaf-shaped teeth for consuming vegetation. Duonychus would probably have used its two claws to shear leaves from trees for eating and possibly for grappling or self-defense. It's the number of claws that interests scientists. While dinosaurs originally had five fingers, most evolved to three fingers. Having two digits is rare, putting Duonychus in a select group. High heat in Texas prisons unconstitutional: judge The fossil is also rare in that one of the claws had the keratin covering preserved. From that, scientists determined the live animal's claw would have been 40% longer and more curved than the bony core. Because Duonychus was discovered in an area with three other therizinosaur species, scientists believe they must have eaten different foods or used various methods to reach vegetation to avoid competition. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
