Paleontologists state they’ve found the fossilized bones of a brand-new kind of early-branching neoceratopsian dinosaur in the Japanese prefecture of Hyogo.

The newly-discovered dinosaur strolled our world throughout the Albian age of the Early Cretaceous date, in between 113 and 100 million years back.

Called Sasayamagnomus saegusaithe animal determined about 0.8 m (2.6 feet) in length and weighed around 10 kg.

“This brand-new dinosaur has special qualities unique from any recognized ceratopsian,” University of Hyogo paleontologist Tomonori Tanaka and associates stated in a declaration.

“Ceratopsians are a group of herbivorous dinosaurs understood for their big horns and frills on their heads, the most popular being Triceratops“

“As a primitive ceratopsian, it did not have the big horns and frills seen in later types like Triceratops“

The skeletal littles Sasayamagnomus saegusai were discovered in the Ohyamashimo Formation in southwestern Japan by the amateur geologist Kiyoshi Adachi.

“The fossil consists of 17 bones, the majority of which come from a single person,” the scientists stated.

“Thin areas of the tibia were taken a look at, exposing that this person was likely a young, not totally grown person.”

The group’s analysis suggests that the brand-new types forms a group with Aquilops americanusamong the earliest neoceratopsian dinosaurs from North America, followed by the sibling types Auroraceratops rugosus from China.

Sasayamagnomus saegusai is carefully associated to primitive ceratopsians from North America, recommending that ceratopsians, which came from Asia, might have immigrated to North America around 110 million years earlier throughout the mid-Cretaceous duration,” the authors stated.

“During this duration, the eastern part of the Eurasian continent and North America were linked by the Bering Land Bridge, enabling animals to move in between the 2.”

“Additionally, severe worldwide warming led to huge forests in the Arctic area.”

“The merging of these 2 occasions most likely helped with the growth of ceratopsians from Asia to North America.”

The discovery of Sasayamagnomus saegusai is explained in a paper released today in the journal Documents in Palaeontology

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Tomonori Tanaka et al2024. A brand-new neoceratopsian (Ornithischia, Ceratopsia) from the Lower Cretaceous Ohyamashimo Formation (Albian), southwestern Japan. Documents in Palaeontology 10 (5 ): e1587; doi: 10.1002/ spp2.1587