Researchers find dinosaur tail in Chile, suggests discovery of new species

Recent findings by Chilean palaeontologists has suggested that they might have found a new species of dinosaur. On Wednesday, these palaeontologists presented research that began three years ago in Patagonia that indicated that the species had a highly unusual tail.

The new species, Stegouros Elengassen was discovered in 2018 at Cerro Guido which is a famous site that contains numerous fossils. Palaeontologist Alexander Vargas said, "That was the main surprise. This structure is absolutely amazing."

He further added, "The tail was covered with seven pairs of osteoderms ... producing a weapon absolutely different from anything we know in any dinosaur."

As per researchers, the tails of the species was aligned on either side of the tail that resembled a large fern. Currently, 80 per cent of the skeleton of the new dinosaur has been discovered and it suggests that the animal lived between 71 to 74.9 million years ago. The species was most probably a herbivore that was almost seven feet long and weighed approximately 150 kilograms.

Sergio Soto, another Palaeontologist said, "We don't know why (the tail) evolved. We do know that within armoured dinosaur groups there seems to be a tendency to independently develop different osteoderm-based defence mechanisms."