A reconstruction of the possible appearance of Ajkaceratops kozmai, created by Matthew Dempsey
The Iharkút dinosaur site (western Hungary), which has been under investigation for 25 years, has enriched science with another sensational discovery. A newly identified, exceptionally informative skull find fundamentally changes previous ideas about the evolution of Eurasian dinosaurs.
According to a study published today in the journal Nature, the herbivorous dinosaur Ajkaceratops, which lived about 85 million years ago, clearly belonged to the Ceratopsia group. This group of dinosaurs, which includes the famous Triceratops, was previously known almost exclusively from Asia and North America, and their presence in Europe has been disputed until now.
Ajkaceratops was first described in 2010 from Iharkút, but even then its classification sparked heated professional debate. Some researchers considered it a frilled dinosaur, while others classified it as a relative of Iguanodon, with anatomical features reminiscent of ceratopsians.
However, the newly discovered, much more complete skull, along with high-resolution CT scans and detailed evolutionary analyses, have clarified the situation. Researchers have determined that Ajkaceratops was indeed a ceratopsian dinosaur, and what is more, the rhabdodontid dinosaur Mochlodon, previously described from Iharkút, also belonged to the same species. The analyses also showed that several other European herbivorous dinosaurs previously thought to be rhabdodontids had also been misclassified and actually belonged to the Ceratopsia.
Ajkaceratops lived during the Late Cretaceous period, when Europe was not a contiguous landmass but a mosaic of islands located on the edge of the Tethys Sea. The new findings show that these isolated habitats played a key role in the unique evolution of European dinosaur fauna.
By confirming the existence of European ceratopsians, the study fills a long-standing gap in the history of the migration and spread of frilled dinosaurs within the northern hemisphere. The findings also encourage researchers to rethink previous ideas about the lifestyle and evolutionary relationships of European Mesozoic herbivores.
The lead authors of the study are Susannah Maidment (Natural History Museum, London) and Attila Ősi (Eötvös Loránd University). The findings of the international research team they led have solved one of the most important evolutionary mysteries of European herbivorous dinosaurs, which had been debated for decades.
The authors emphasize that the discovery also highlights the key role played by natural history museum collections. New technologies, such as CT scans and digital reconstructions, make it possible to reevaluate previously known but incomplete or misinterpreted findings.
In this way, fossils preserved in museums are not just treasures of the past, but active sources of new discoveries that help us better understand the course of evolution and the history of life on Earth.
Via ttk.elte.hu; Featured image: Pixabay
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