(ORDO NEWS) — Paleontologists have discovered the remains of a new species of dinosaur in Argentina and named it Meraxes after the dragon from the A Song of Ice and Fire series of books by American writer George Martin, based on which the Game of Thrones series was filmed.
This was announced on Thursday by the National Council for Scientific and Technical Research (CONICET) of the South American Republic.
A group of paleontologists from CONICET have discovered the almost complete remains of a new species of giant carnivorous dinosaurs that belong to the group of carcharodontosaurids. The species was named Meraxes gigas.
As scientists found out, the discovered individual reached a length of about 11 meters, its weight was about four tons. “Meraxes is among the largest carnivorous dinosaurs that have been discovered to date,” says CONICET.
The dinosaur had a large head (about 127 cm), small front paws and powerful legs with sharp claws. “This indicates that they used as a weapon not only the head, but also their legs,” says paleontologist Sebastian Apestegia, who participated in the study.
Paleontologists also found that at the time of death, the discovered individual was from 39 to 53 years old. The dinosaur lived on the planet, presumably 93-96 million years ago. His remains were discovered in 2012 in the province of Neuquen.
The study, led by Argentine paleontologist Juan Ignacio Canale, also involved scientists from the United States and Canada. The results of the researchers’ work were published in the scientific journal Current Biology.
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