Why did T. rex have tiny arms? New ‘gargoyle’ dinosaur offers clues
- Meraxes gigas, named after a dragon in hit TV show Game of Thrones, had strong jaws, huge claws on its feet – and ‘absurdly’ puny front limbs
- A massive skull discovered in Argentina suggests such dinosaurs used their mouths to take down prey, meaning their small but muscled arms served another purpose
Fossils found in Argentina of a ferocious dinosaur with a huge head covered in bumps and crests reminiscent of a gargoyle are providing insight into the evolution of some of Earth’s biggest predatory dinosaurs including a curious trend toward puny arms.
Scientists said on Thursday they discovered in northern Patagonia extensive skeletal remains of a previously unknown species called Meraxes gigas, including one of the most complete skulls of a large meat-eating dinosaur ever unearthed.
Meraxes, which lived about 90 million years ago during the Cretaceous Period, was roughly 11-12 metres (36-39 feet) long and weighed about four tonnes (9,000 pounds).
All meat-eating dinosaurs belonged to a bipedal assemblage called theropods. Meraxes was a member of a theropod lineage called carcharodontosaurs – the so-called shark-toothed dinosaurs – that included the even larger Giganotosaurus, also from Patagonia, and Carcharodontosaurus, from Africa.
The Meraxes skull measured more than 4 feet (127cm) long, according to palaeontologist Juan Ignacio Canale of the Argentine research agency CONICET at the Ernesto Bachmann Paleontological Museum, lead author of the study published in the journal Current Biology.
“Many of the bones of the face and skull roof were covered with bumps, ridges and furrows, giving it a gnarly appearance like a medieval gargoyle,” said University of Minnesota palaeontologist and study co-author Pete Makovicky.