Torrential rains that caused historic flooding in southern Brazil have uncovered a dinosaur fossil dating back about 200 million years. It is in a “very good state of preservation,” according to the team of scientists who discovered it.
It was identified in May, in the town of Sao Joao do Polesine, about 300 km from Porto Alegre. This area of pampas is considered the Brazilian El Dorado of paleontology. It dates from the Triassic period, from 250 to 200 million years before our era, before the Jurassic.
According to the first observations of this renowned center, it is a specimen of the herrerasaurid family, bipedal carnivores with long tails that inhabited the lands where Argentina and Brazil are located today. “Not only is it one of the oldest dinosaur fossils in the world, but it is also in a very good state of preservation. It will provide us with a lot of information on the anatomy of these dinosaurs,” explains Rodrigo Temp Müller, head of the research.
Second most complete fossil known
According to him, it is potentially the second most complete fossil known so far in the herrerasaurid family. The first had been discovered in the same region in 2014, allowing the identification of a new species with hooked claws, named Gnathovorax cabreirai.
Several analyses will be necessary for scientists to clearly establish whether or not the fossil extracted from the rock in May belongs to this same species.
Blessed land of paleontologists
The pampas of southern Brazil, near the border with Argentina and Uruguay, conceal under its red earth a hundred deposits rich in fossils that reveal treasures of knowledge about the era of the first dinosaurs.
Torrential rains and flooding in the region in May “accelerated erosion”. But there are also downsides, with heavy rains “destroying a lot of material” from the fossils, including small fragments. They have killed more than 180 people and caused massive property damage.