One-claw dinosaur fossil discovered
Source: Xinhua |
March 30, 2010, Tuesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
CHINESE scientists have found what is believed to be one of the oldest ever fossils of the mononykus (meaning "one claw") species of dinosaur, according to the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
The fossil was discovered at the Upper Cretaceous Majiacun Formation, in central China's Henan Province's Xixia County, which dates back more than 63 million years, and represented one of the earliest species of the mononykus in the world, scientists said yesterday.
Small and bird-like, the fossil weighed less than 1 kilogram.
As one of the theropod dinosaur species, the mononykus had short and single-clawed forelimbs in sharp contrast to its long and skinny legs, and scientists speculate that the mononykus could run at high speed.
The team was led by Xu Xing, from the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, and Wang Deyou, researcher from the Research Institute of Land and Resources in Henan.
The fossil was discovered at the Upper Cretaceous Majiacun Formation, in central China's Henan Province's Xixia County, which dates back more than 63 million years, and represented one of the earliest species of the mononykus in the world, scientists said yesterday.
Small and bird-like, the fossil weighed less than 1 kilogram.
As one of the theropod dinosaur species, the mononykus had short and single-clawed forelimbs in sharp contrast to its long and skinny legs, and scientists speculate that the mononykus could run at high speed.
The team was led by Xu Xing, from the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, and Wang Deyou, researcher from the Research Institute of Land and Resources in Henan.
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