A small herbivorous dinosaur Fauna herzogaDiscovered in the USA a few years ago, the species may be burrow-dwelling, as evidenced by some features of its anatomy resembling burrowing animals, as well as well-preserved skeletons.

Bones of Tescelosaurus have been found in North America since the late 19th century. They were small plant-eating lizards that lived in the late Cretaceous period, 80-66 million years ago. They walked on two legs and probably held on to the ground with their short front legs. Their structure combined modern and archaic features.

Despite the large number of specimens, only three species of thescelosaurs have been described. Until recently, the origin of this branch of dinosaurs was unknown.

Since 2013, paleontologists from the University of North Carolina (USA) and the local Natural History Museum have been finding bones of an unusual dinosaur in deposits in the state of Utah. In the new study, after collecting all the data, the researchers described it as a new species. Fauna herzoga It is related to tescelosaurs. Most likely, it is their ancestor that lived 35 million years ago. The most surprising thing is that it was able to live an underground lifestyle. The article was published in the journal Anatomical Record.

Fossil remains Fauna herzoga Rich in finds are found in the geological formation of Cedar Mountain, and more precisely in its upper part – Masentuchi. They are mostly clayey rocks, finely layered sandstones, rich in organic matter, mixed with volcanic ash. They consist of sedimentary rocks in lakes, rivers and floodplains. It was a swampy plain with a developed river system, sandwiched between the ocean in the east and volcanic mountains in the west, with a warm and humid climate.

According to the analysis of the bones, To the Fund – a small, dog-sized, bipedal, herbivorous dinosaur. It looked simple against the background of horned or armored species. But scientists were interested in some features of the structure; large biceps muscles in the shoulders, strong muscle connections in the hips and legs, fused pelvic bones and large hind legs. Apparently they were digging holes.

Skeletons To the Fund unlike other dinosaur representatives, most often found intact and intact. But these are large individuals. Project participant and first author of the new article, Haviv Avrahami from the University of North Carolina, in an interview with the press service noted that the corpse of a small animal would not be so well preserved.

Moreover, scientists determined that death was frozen by looking at the position of the skeletons. To the Fund lying on the chest with its front limbs spread out.

“The best explanation for this is that the animal was underground at the time of death,” the researcher explained.

Judging by the number of finds, these dinosaurs were there in large numbers and lived at least partially underground. To know for sure, you would need to find their burrows or tunnels, as has been done for orichthodromes in the states of Idaho and Montana.

Last year, scientists published a description of one of the Tescelosaurus species. Thescelosaurus ignores – Nicknamed “Willow”, its anatomy is also partially adapted for burrowing. Perhaps this lifestyle was inherited from an ancestor. Fauna herzoga. Researchers gave a general name To the Fund In honor of the legend that explains the origin of the indigenous Chamorro people of the Mariana Islands. And the species is named after a researcher from the Museum of Natural History who found a large part of the skeletons described in the scientific study.