Sinosauropteryx
| Sinosauropteryx | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Skeletal reconstruction of Sinosauropteryx |
||||||||||||
| Temporal occurrence | ||||||||||||
| Lower Cretaceous ( Aptium ) | ||||||||||||
| 126.3 to 112.9 million years | ||||||||||||
| Locations | ||||||||||||
| Systematics | ||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Sinosauropteryx | ||||||||||||
| Ji and Ji , 1996 | ||||||||||||
| Art | ||||||||||||
|
Sinosauropteryx (griech.:"chinesischer lizard wings ") is the geologically oldest and the first species of feathered dinosaurs from the group of carnivorous theropods (theropods) that is in China found.
Sinosauropteryx lived about 126 to 113 million years ago in the time of the Lower Cretaceous ( Aptian ). Two fossils were discovered in 1996 in the Yixian Formation near Sihetun in Liaoning Province , a province in northeast China. Sinosauropteryx demonstrates, like many other feathered dinosaurs , a close relationship to birds , which according to current knowledge are descended from carnivorous dinosaurs.
So far, three very well-preserved fossils of the animal have been found in Liaoning, with footprints, feathers, stomach contents, eggs not yet laid and internal organs. The first fossil was found by farmers while working in the fields in a prehistoric river basin, which is considered to be a very rich fossil site.
features
Sinosauropteryx is a genus of theropod covered with protofeather . The down- shaped primal feathers of Sinosauropteryx , which grow along its back and sides and look mane-shaped behind its head, do not give the dinosaurs the ability to fly, but rather served as thermal insulation. The feathers have a length of about two millimeters (the longest up to 3.8 centimeters).
When fully grown, Sinosauropteryx reached a body length of about 1.25 meters and walked on two long legs ( biped ). The hips are at a height of about 29 centimeters. Its weight is estimated at 2.5 kilograms. Both arms are short like those of the other theropods, the teeth are sharp; presumably he hunted small animals and insects . Sinosauropteryx is the only theropod genus that has found mammalian remains in its stomach , but the jawbone has not yet been identified. Sinosauropteryx had the longest tail of any theropod in relation to its total length . Presumably the tail was used to turn quickly when running.
In January 2010, a study was published in the journal Nature , in which melanosomes obtained from fossils in the feathers of Sinosauropteryx are reported. Melanosomes give the feathers of today's birds their color. By analyzing the structure and distribution of the melanosomes, the scientists led by the British vertebrate paleontologist Michael Benton and Fucheng Zhang were able to detect banding of the tail of Sinosauropteryx with light and dark stripes, with the darker stripes being reddish brown and chestnut colored. Further investigations of the coloring suggest that Sinosauropteryx had a dark back and a light belly shading ( counter shading ), as well as a dark face mask (similar to a raccoon ).
Individual evidence
- ^ Gregory S. Paul : The Princeton Field Guide To Dinosaurs. Princeton University Press, Princeton NJ 2010, ISBN 978-0-691-13720-9 , pp. 119-121, online .
- ↑ Fucheng Zhang, Stuart L. Kearns, Patrick J. Orr, Michael J. Benton , Zhonghe Zhou , Diane Johnson, Xing Xu , Xiaolin Wang: Fossilized melanosomes and the color of Cretaceous dinosaurs and birds. In: Nature . Vol. 463, No. 7284, 2010, pp. 1075-1078, doi : 10.1038 / nature08740 .
- ↑ Fiann M. Smithwick et al. Countershading and Stripes in the Theropod Dinosaur Sinosauropteryx Reveal Heterogeneous Habitats in the Early Cretaceous Jehol Biota. Current Biology, October, 2017; doi: 10.1016 / j.cub.2017.09.032
- ↑ Daniela Zeibig: "Dino was patterned like raccoon" , on www.spektrum.de on October 27, 2017, accessed on October 27, 2017
Web links
- Sinosauropteryx in the Senckenberg Research Institute and Nature Museum