공룡 티라노 날았었다? > 괴물/희귀동물

공룡 티라노 날았었다?

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작성자 선장쪽지보내기 메일보내기 자기소개 아이디로 검색 전체게시물 댓글 25건 조회 3,449회 작성일 04-10-09 18:21

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사진#1

[한겨레] 중서 깃털 원형구조 화석 발견

중국 랴오닝성의 백악기 전기 지층(약 1억4천만~1억3천만년 전)에서 깃털의 원형으로 보이는 섬유모양 구조를 가진 육식공룡 티라노사우루스류의 신종 화석이 발견됐다고 일본 언론들이 7일 보도했다.

중국 과학원과 미 자연사박물관 조사단이 발견한 이 화석은 코뼈와 이빨 등의 특징으로 볼 때 티라노사우루스류에 속하며, 꼬리와 아래턱 옆에 섬유모양의 구조를 갖고 있었다.

연구진은 소나무 잎 모양의 이 구조가 두 갈래로 나눠져 있는 것으로 보아 깃털의 원형이라고 말했다. 이 화석은 또 길이가 최고 1.6m에 지나지 않아, 육식공룡 가운데 가장 덩치가 큰 티라노사우루스가 초기에는 몸집이 작았음을 보여준다.

깃털의 원형을 보유한 이 화석의 발견은 육식공룡과 새가 공통의 조상을 갖고 있다는 설을 뒷받침한다고 조사단은 밝혔다.

사진#2

Skull of a nine-metre Tyrannosaurus rex. A team led by the world's most successful fossil hunter say they have found the remains of a feathery dragon-like forerunner of the mighty Tyrannosaurus rex at a dinosaur graveyard in northeastern China.(AFP/File/Torsten Blackwood) Wed Oct 6, 3:28 PM ET

사진#3

The skull of an early tyrannosauroid discovered in western Liaoning, China. The skull has the distinctively square-snouted profile of its much larger and more famous cousin, T. rex.

사진#4

Mark Norell and Xu Xing show the skull of the newly discovered dinosaur. American Natural History Museum photo by Mick Ellison

사진#5

Dilong paradoxus, or "surprising dragon,'' looked like this, according to scientists. It was barely 5 feet long. National Geographic Society photo by Portia Sloan

---------------------------------------------------------보충 자료 ------
"Dragon" Tyrannosaurus found in China

Wed Oct 6, 3:28 PM ET

PARIS (AFP) - A team led by the world's most successful fossil hunter say they have found the remains of a feathery dragon-like forerunner of the mighty Tyrannosaurus rex at a dinosaur graveyard in northeastern China.

The "surprising" creature is a tyrannosaurid that lived between 139 million and 128 million years ago, the researchers led by Xu Xing of the Institute of Vertebrate Palaeontology and Palaeoanthropology report on Thursday.

Small and slender, measuring about 1.6 metres (5.2 feet) from tip to tail, the creature had the characteristic two powerful rear feet and flesh-ripping teeth made famous by the T. Rex, whose 20-million-year reign ended with the twilight of the dinosaurs some 65 million years ago.

But it had several big differences -- it had relatively long arms compared to its big descendant, as well as a long, dragon-like snout, and its scaly skin was covered with a fibrous coat.

Dinosaurs that are believed to have been the ancestors of modern birds had primitive feathery coverings like this.

But in this case, the purpose of the covering was not to provide an evolutionary step for flight but a means to keep warm, the authors suggest.

"This is the first direct fossil evidence that tyrannosaurids had protofeathers," their study, published in the weekly British scientific journal Nature says.

The discovery has been called Dilong paradoxus. The first word is a composite of the Chinese "di" (emperor) and "long" (dragon), while the second "refers to the surprising characters of this animal," the study says.

The found came from the Yixian Formation in western Liaoning, which has yielded a stunning abundance of unique fossils, many of them described by Xu himself.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3726370.stm

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