Solucionado. Sí, ya se puede decir quién podrá sustituir a esos velociraptores con cuerpo de Utahraptor en la futura remasterización de la primera entrega de la saga Jurassic Park. Y los nuevos actores son… La respuesta se describe en un reciente trabajo en la revista científica Naturwissenschaften. Los nuevos actores en el reparto serán los ladrones del Aqueronte, es decir, unos terópodos de unos 3 metros de longitud y un peso aproximado de 40 kg que han sido identificados como una nueva especie: Acheroraptor temertyorum. Este nuevo dromeosaurio, hallado en la formación Hell Creek, que compartía espacio vital con el afamado Tyrannosaurus rex podría verse de nuevo las caras con este hiperdepredador del Cretácico Superior en el hall del Centro de Visitantes creado en la isla Nublar momentos antes de regir de nuevo la Tierra (aunque sólo fuese la de la isla Nublar).
El resumen del trabajo es el siguiente:
Dromaeosaurids from the Maastrichtian of North America have a poor fossil record and are known largely from isolated teeth, which have typically been referred to taxa based on more complete material from earlier Campanian strata. An almost complete maxilla with well-preserved dentition and an associated dentary from the Hell Creek Formation of Montana are used to establish a new dromaeosaurid taxon in the latest Maastrichtian, immediately prior to the end-Cretaceous extinction event. Acheroraptor temertyorum gen. et sp. nov. is differentiated from other dromaeosaurids on the basis of a hypertrophied postantral wall that projects posteriorly into the antorbital fenestra, a maxillary fenestra positioned low in the antorbital fossa and directly posterior to the promaxillary fenestra, and distinctive dentition with marked apicobasal ridges. The new material allows a dromaeosaurid from the Maastrichtian of North America to be placed within a phylogenetic framework for the first time. Phylogenetic analysis suggests Acheroraptor is a velociraptorine that is more closely related to Asian dromaeosaurids, including Tsaagan and Velociraptor, than it is to Dromaeosaurus, Saurornitholestes, or any other taxon from North America. As part of the Lancian Tyrannosaurus–Triceratops fauna, A. temertyorum is the latest occurring dromaeosaurid. Its relationships and occurrence suggest a complex historical biogeographic scenario that involved multiple, bi-directional faunal interchanges between Asia and North America during the Late Cretaceous.
--Imagen tomada de Emily Willoughby Paleoart and bird illustration (Autor: Emily Willoughby).
--Referencia: David C. Evans, Derek W. Larson & Philip J. Currie (2013): A new dromaeosaurid (Dinosauria: Theropoda) with Asian affinities from the latest Cretaceous of North America. Naturwissenschaften 100(11): 1041-1049. DOI: 10.1007/s00114-013-1107-5.
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