Il dinosauro Iani appena scoperto potrebbe essere “l’ultimo sussulto” della specie su un pianeta che cambia

Ricostruzione dell’artista Ianni Fucina. Questo primo dinosauro ornitopode scoperto di recente potrebbe rappresentare l’ultima resistenza della specie durante il periodo del riscaldamento globale nel mezzo del periodo Cretaceo, circa 99 milioni di anni fa, che portò a drastici cambiamenti nelle popolazioni di dinosauri. Credito: Jorge González

dinosauro appena scoperto, Ianni FucinaHa vissuto durante gli sconvolgimenti climatici del mezzo[{” attribute=””>Cretaceous era and might be the last of its lineage, replaced by duckbill dinosaurs. This dinosaur, found in Utah, represents a critical transitional period in dinosaur history, affected by rising CO2 levels, global warming, and shifting dinosaur populations.

A newly discovered plant-eating dinosaur may have been a species’ “last gasp” during a period when Earth’s warming climate forced massive changes to global dinosaur populations.

The specimen, named Iani smithi after Janus, the two-faced Roman god of change, was an early ornithopod, a group of dinosaurs that ultimately gave rise to the more commonly known duckbill dinosaurs such as Parasaurolophus and Edmontosaurus. Researchers recovered most of the juvenile dinosaur’s skeleton – including skull, vertebrae and limbs – from Utah’s Cedar Mountain Formation.

Iani smithi lived in what is now Utah during the mid-Cretaceous, approximately 99 million years ago. The dinosaur’s most striking feature is its powerful jaw, with teeth designed for chewing through tough plant material.

La metà del periodo Cretaceo fu un periodo di grandi cambiamenti, che ebbero un grande impatto sulle popolazioni di dinosauri. L’aumento dell’anidride carbonica nell’atmosfera durante questo periodo ha causato l’innalzamento della temperatura della Terra e l’innalzamento del livello del mare, facendo sì che i dinosauri occupassero aree terrestri sempre più piccole. Faceva così caldo che le foreste pluviali fiorivano ai poli. La vita delle piante in fiore ha conquistato le aree costiere e ha sostituito le fonti alimentari naturali per gli erbivori.

In Nord America, i giganteschi sauropodi erbivori – un tempo titani del paesaggio – stavano scomparendo, insieme ai loro predatori allosauri. Allo stesso tempo, dall’Asia stavano arrivando anche erbivori più piccoli, come antichi dinosauri con becco d’anatra e corna, e teropodi piumati come tirannosauri ed enormi oviraptorosauri.

Entra Ianni Fucinaè unico non solo perché è stato scoperto di recente, ma anche per la sua rarità nella documentazione fossile nordamericana e per il suo posto nella storia dei dinosauri.

“Trovare Me È stato un colpo di fortuna. Abbiamo saputo che qualcosa di simile viveva in questo ecosistema perché sono stati raccolti denti isolati qua e là, ma non ci aspettavamo di imbatterci in uno scheletro così bello, soprattutto di questo periodo della storia della Terra. Avere un teschio quasi completo è stato prezioso per ricostruire la storia”, afferma Lindsey Zano, professore associato di ricerca presso[{” attribute=””>North Carolina State University, head of paleontology at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, and corresponding author of the work.

The lower jaw and teeth of new dinosaur Iani smithi. Credit: National Geographic, Mark Thiessen and Becky Hale

Zanno and her team used the well-preserved skeleton to analyze the evolutionary relationships of Iani and were surprised – and a bit skeptical – of the results.

“We recovered Iani as an early rhabdodontomorph, a lineage of ornithopods known almost exclusively from Europe,” Zanno says. “Recently, paleontologists proposed that another North American dinosaur, Tenontosaurus – which was as common as cattle in the Early Cretaceous – belongs to this group, as well as some Australian critters. If Iani holds up as a rhabdodontomorph, it raises a lot of cool questions.”

Key among these is, could Iani be a last gasp, a witness to the end of a once successful lineage? Zanno thinks that studying this fossil in the context of environmental and biodiversity changes during the mid-Cretaceous will give us more insight into the history of our planet.

Iani smithi is named for Janus, the two-faced god who symbolized transitions – an apt name, given its position in history.

“Iani may be the last surviving member of a lineage of dinosaurs that once thrived here in North America but were eventually supplanted by duckbill dinosaurs,” Zanno says. “Iani was alive during this transition – so this dinosaur really does symbolize a changing planet.

“This dinosaur stood on the precipice,” she says, “able to look back at the way North American ecosystems were in the past, but close enough to see the future coming like a bullet train. I think we can all relate to that.”

Reference: “An early-diverging iguanodontian (Dinosauria: Rhabdodontomorpha) from the Late Cretaceous of North America” by Lindsay E. Zanno, Terry A. Gates, Haviv M. Avrahami, Ryan T. Tucker and Peter J. Makovicky, 7 June 2023, PLOS ONE.
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0286042

The work appears in PLOS ONE and was supported by the National Science Foundation. Zanno is lead author as well as corresponding. Terry Gates and Haviv Avrahami, both of NC State and the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, along with Ryan Tucker of Stellenbosch University and Peter Makovicky of the University of Minnesota, also contributed to the work.