150 Million-Year-Old Dinosaur Had Uniquely Long Legs Never Seen Before

[Judi Lynn]

Leggy, bouffant, and serving cloaca.

RACHAEL FUNNELL

A uniquely leggy dinosaur dating back 150 million years may have adapted to swamp life by evolving to have a lower leg twice as long as its thigh. The trait has never been seen in dinosaurs before and indicates this new-to-science species was either an extremely fast runner or used to wade through swampy environments hunting for turtles and fish.

The bizarre species was described following the discovery of a fossil retrieved from from Zhenghe County, Fujian Province, and has been named Fujianvenator prodigiosus. “Fujian” derives from the Mandarin for where the holotype was found, “venator” from the Latin for hunter, and “prodigiosus” is in honor of its unique and peculiar legs, being Latin for bizarre.

It sits within the Avialae clade that’s comprised of all modern birds – but not Deinonychus or Troodon – and dates back to the Jurassic, an era from which we have a limited diversity of fossils to work from. This makes our bizarre leggy dino a valuable fossil, as it can provide new insights into the evolution of the avialan body plan, and it’s already provided some surprises.

"Our comparative analyses show that marked changes in body plan occurred along the early avialan line, which is largely driven by the forelimb, eventually giving rise to the typical bird limb proportion," said Dr Wang Min from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, lead and corresponding author of the study, in a statement. "However, Fujianvenator is an odd species that diverged from this main trajectory and evolved bizarre hindlimb architecture."

More:
https://www.iflscience.com/150-million-year-old-dinosaur-had-uniquely-long-legs-never-seen-before-70577

[GreenWave]

1. Here she is

https://assets.iflscience.com/assets/articleNo/70577/iImg/70514/fujianvenator-prodigiosus-l.webp

We also see Moscow Mitch being spared.

[Jim__]

3. Interesting. The text says its lower leg is twice as long as its thigh.

I don't see that in the picture - I'm thinking - but I'm not sure - the thigh is about as long as the upper leg.

[sl8]

4. That was my first thought, but ...

I was mistaking the tarsometatarsus for the tibia.

In this pic, the femurs are red, the tibias blue:




https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarsometatarsus

The tarsometatarsus is a bone that is only found in the lower leg of birds and some non-avian dinosaurs.

[...]

On edit:
The picture is just an example, not of the dino in question.

[Jim__]

5. OK. Thanks.

[Judi Lynn]

7. Love the flashy topknot! Moscow Mitch's tough shell of pure self-interest has saved him again!

One of these days, his luck is going to run out, no doubt about it. Hope we're still living to witness it!

It could take decades longer....

[Lovie777]

2. And the mysteries of uncharted areas especially the oceans.............

or deep rain forests, mountains, caves, nook and crannies.

Finding little people or giants, who knows they may find a community of Neanderthals.

[Judi Lynn]

6. Truly! So little is actually known. So much has been assumed, maybe hallucinated!

[sl8]

8. Serving cloaca?

The cloaca is the orifice used for waste elimination and sex. I'm not sure what the "serving cloaca" in the subtitle means. I glanced at the study, but didn't see anything to explain it.

Interesting article, though. Thanks.