Paleontologists discover a new species of plant-eating dinosaur through fossils found in Texas

A new species of dinosaur has been discovered in North Texas called Ampelognathus coheni, a herbivorous creature that lived 96 million years ago.

The small herbivore is one of the few herbivores found in Texas and is related to the dinosaur Qantassaurus intrepidus.

The fossilized jawbone of Ampelognathus coheni was first found in 2020 near Grapevine Lake around Dallas-Fort Worth.

After further research, paleontologists Ronald Tykoski, Dori Contreras and Christopher Noto have now confirmed it in a new study The article has been published The bones belong to a new dinosaur species.

Tycoski told the Dallas Morning News in 2020 via Newsweek that the dinosaur is a “small animal” that would be about the size of a border collie.

The bone was somewhat of a mystery to paleontologists Ronald Tykowski, Dori Contreras, and Christopher Noto since it was unlike anything they had discovered before.

Tykoski, who serves as vice president of science at the Peru Museum of Nature and Science, described in detail the process he, Contreras, and Noto went through to confirm that the jaw belonged to a new species of dinosaur.

The name Ampelognathus coheni roughly translates to Cohen’s Grapevine jaw.

Cohen’s grape jaw is named after the area where it was discovered and Murray Cohen, the volunteer who discovered the jawbone.

Tykoski, who serves as vice president of science at the Perot Museum of Nature and Science, went into more detail about how the bone was discovered to be part of a new species of dinosaur.

“It wasn’t until we went back to the lab and put it under a microscope and cleaned it out with little pins and needles that we realized it wasn’t like a baby alligator, but instead it was a new baby species of crocodile,” he said. dinosaur.

The jawbone also did not match any other dinosaur discovered over the years.

Tykoski, Contreras, and Noto wrote in their paper that things like “the combination of a ‘reduced coronal process’ and ‘number of dentate positions’ also played a role in deducing new dinosaur species.”

Ampelognathus coheni was not only related to Qantassaurus intrepidus, but was also a sister species to a group of ornithopods consisting of Thescelosaurus and Iguanodontia.

Noto said via Science News: “Naming a new species is always exciting, because it means we are adding new information to science.”

Noto added that the importance of Ampelognathus coheni is that it “represents the first small-sized herbivore recognized from the Woodbine Group,” of which he, Tykoski and Contreras are part.

The jawbone itself helped fill a gap that enhanced their understanding of Woodbine’s terrestrial ecosystem.