Scientists have discovered a new Argentina dinosaur with powerful claws, feasting on an old crocodile bone.
The new discovery was perhaps 23 feet long and was from a mysterious group of dinosaurs called Megaraptorans. They have broken through what is now South America, Australia and certain parts of Asia, separating into different species over millions of years.
The Megaraptorans were known for their stretched skulls and “huge and very powerful claws,” said Lucio Ibirici with the Patagonian Institute of Geology and Paleontology, which was part of the discovery team.
But it is not yet clear how these creatures hunted and where they come across the evolutionary chronology – mainly because the fossils recovered so far were incomplete.
Andrew McAfee, Carnegie Museum of Natural History via AP
“Megaraptorans are among the least understood dinosaurs of all,” Ibirici told the Reuters news agency.
In a new study, the researchers said they had discovered part of a skull as well as bones of arms, legs and tail of the rocky formation of Lago Colhué Huapi in Patagonia. They noticed unique characteristics in the bones that made them realize that this could be a new species.
The latter member of the Megaraptoran clan named Joaquinaptor Casali “fills a major gap by providing one of the most complete skeletons to date,” said Federico Agnolin with the Argentinian Museum of Natural Sciences Bernardino Rivadavia in an email. Agnolin was not involved in research, which was published Tuesday in the journal Nature Communications.
The creature probably lived between 66 and 70 million years – near the dinosaurs have turned off – and were at least 19 years old when he died, although scientists do not know what killed him.
The bone of the front leg pressed against its jaws – belonging to an old parent of crocodiles – could give some clues to its diet and if it was the highest predator of the moist prehistoric flood plains.
The study co-author, Matt Lamanna, told Reuters that unlike T. Rex, which had massive teeth and light weapons, the Joaquinaptor probably used its long weapons to capture prey.
“This suggests that these two predatory dinosaurs lines have evolved different adaptations to fully accomplish the same thing-that is to say to capture, master, kill and eat other animals such as other dinosaurs,” Lamanna told Reuters. “Precisely why these groups have evolved along these different evolutionary paths remain a mystery, but it shows that, during the Cretaceous, there was more than one way of being a higher predator.”
Marcelo Luna / Handout via Reuters 
Ibirici appointed the new dinosaur in memory of his son Joaquin. While Joaquin was very young and had not yet developed a fascination for dinosaurs, Ibirici always thinks that he would have appreciated the name of a name.
“All children love dinosaurs, so he would probably be a fan too,” he said.
The discovery comes only a few months after scientists identified the Mongolian Khankhuulu, a new ancestor of T. rex that the researchers called The “missing link” Between the Apex predators.
