Life reconstruction of the thescelosaurine dinosaur Parksosaurus warreni, a close relative of Nevadadromeus schmitti. Image credit: Steveoc 86 / CC BY-SA 3.0.
SciNews has a piece about the discovery of a new dinosaur. Nevadadromeus schmitti lived between 100 and 94 million years ago during the Cretaceous Period in what is now Nevada. It seems to be related to Thescelosaurinae, but also has features of Orodrominae. It is an Ornithiscian dinosaur, a group that includes hadrosaurs, cerotapsian, and other plant eating dinosaurs. The animal was described in the Journal of the Arizona-Nevada Academy of Science.
“Due to the very fragmentary nature of the specimen, phylogenetic analysis yields statistically insignificant results,” said Dr. Joshua Bonde, director of the Nevada Science Center, and his colleagues.
“Nevertheless, a few taxonomically important characters, particularly those of the femur, support the hypothesis that this is a thescelosaurine, and a new genus and species.”
“This would represent the earliest occurrence of thescelosaurines in the fossil record of North America as all other thescelosaurines from the continent date to the Maastrichtian age of the Late Cretaceous epoch.”
The partial fossilized remains of Nevadadromeus schmitti were recovered from the layers of the Willow Tank Formation at Valley of Fire in southern Nevada.
“Bones identified include the proximal femora, a series of vertebrae missing neural arches, several pedal phalanges, fragments of ossified tendons, and some as yet unidentified elements,” the paleontologists said.
