New species of duck-billed dinosaur found

The first bones we uncovered were the pelvis and parts of the legs; which were so large it led to the site being given the nickname ‘Superduck,’" Fowler said.

Scientists have discovered the fossil of a new species of duck-billed dinosaur in US that roamed the Earth about 79 million years ago.

The dinosaur species, first uncovered and documented by a professor at Montana State University (MSU), showcases an evolutionary transition from an earlier duck-billed species to that group’s descendants, researchers said.

The new species neatly fills a gap that had existed between an ancestral form with no crest and a descendant with a larger crest, providing key insight into the evolution of elaborate display structures in these gigantic extinct herbivores.

Elizabeth Freedman Fowler and MSU paleontologist Jack Horner named the dinosaur Probrachylophosaurus bergei and suggest it is a previously missing link between a preceding species, Acristavus, which lived about 81 million years ago, and later form Brachylophosaurus, which lived about 77.5 million years ago.

“The crest of Probrachylophosaurus is small and triangular, and would have only poked up a little bit on the top of the head, above the eyes,” said Fowler.

The other bones in its skull are very similar to those of Acristavus and Brachylophosaurus, Fowler said. However, Acristavus does not have a crest; the top of its skull is flat, while Brachylophosaurus has a large flat paddle—shaped crest that completely covers the back of the top of its skull.READ MORE-http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/new-species-of-duckbilled-dinosaur-found/article7873207.ece