Skeletal reconstruction of Riojavenatrix lacustris. Image credit: Scott Hartman.
SciNews has a story about the discovery of a new dinosaur species. Riojavenatrix lacustris, a spinosaur, was discovered in Spain. It lived about 120 million years ago during the Cretaceous Period. The animal was 7-8 meters long and weight about 1.5 tons. R. lacustris was found by paleontologist Erik Isasmendi and his colleagues at the University of the Basque Country. The description was published in a paper in the journal Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society.
The fossilized bones from Riojavenatrix lacustris were collected from the Enciso Group of the Cameros Basin in La Rioja, Spain.
“Along with Riojavenatrix lacustris, five spinosaurids have now been described from the Lower Cretaceous of the Iberian Peninsula,” the paleontologists said.
“The other Iberian spinosaurids are Camarillasaurus from Aragon, Vallibonavenatrix and Protathlitis from Valencia, and Iberospinus from Portugal.”
“Fossil remains testify that the Iberian Peninsula was home to a large, diverse assemblage of these carnivorous dinosaurs.”
“The numerous discoveries within this iconic group raise multiple new questions about the ecology of these animals,” said Dr. Elena Cuesta, a paleontologist at the Museum of Palaeontology Egidio Feruglio and Ludwig Maximilian University.
