In Argentina, the remains of a previously unknown species of giant horned turtle have been discovered, which lived shortly before the mass extinction that wiped out the dinosaurs.
This discovery has helped scientists better understand which animal groups managed to survive the catastrophe that occurred about 66 million years ago.
The fossils were discovered at the Los Alamitos site in the Río Negro province of Argentina. The remains included skull fragments, parts of the carapace (shell), as well as vertebrae and limb bones. These finds enabled researchers to describe a new species, which they named Patagoniaemys aeschyli.
This animal belongs to a group of ancient turtles with massive carapaces and unusual bony formations in the head region. Preserved remains indicate that the carapace was about 80 centimeters long, with a flatter and wider shape compared to many other fossil turtles.
The analysis showed that this species lived in the late Cretaceous period, about two to three million years before the asteroid impact that is believed to have caused the extinction of the dinosaurs and many other creatures.
This discovery is of particular importance when compared to species close to it in time, as the results indicate that some horned turtle lineages were able to survive the global catastrophe and continued to evolve after the extinction of the dinosaurs.
According to the researchers, this discovery contributes to a better understanding of the evolution of ancient turtles in South America, and helps to reconstruct the picture of life on Earth during the later stages of the Cretaceous period.
