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Pedro Oliveira

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Hi people!!
Did you know this?
This article tells us about the biggest fossil salamander found in the world . In Portugal course eheh . The news is in Portuguese , but I tried my best with the translation..

Paleontologists of FCT- UNL discover super salamander from time of dinosaurs in Portugal

A new species of salamander was discovered in Portugal who lived during the dinosaurs period. She was one of the largest predators Earth about 200 million years ago, according to a new study . The paleontologists team identified a new species of salamander that gets its name dedicated to the region , Metoposaurus algarvensis , after digging the bones on the rocks of an ancient lake from the time of dinosaurs, in the municipality of Loulé, Algarve. For the paleontologist who participated in the discovery and study, Octavio Mateus "this discovery is an example of a finding from a time in which we know very little in Portugal, the Triassic, about 200 million years ago , when lived some of the first dinosaurs". In addition to this paleontologist of the faculty of Science and Technology from the New University of Lisbon and the developer's Lourinhã Museum , the study also includes researchers from the Universities of Edinburgh, Birmingham and Natural History museum in Paris.

The discovery shows that the geographic distribution of this group of animals was greater than previously thought. Fossil remains of such animals were found in Africa, Europe and North America but differences in the skull and jaw structure of the fossils found in Portugal revealed that they belonged to a new species. This species was discovered in a layer full of bones where dozens of animals may have died when the lake dried up.
Only a fraction of the site - about 4 square meters - was excavated so far, and the team will continue to work to find new fossils. Most of this type of large amphibians were wiped out during a mass extinction that occurred 201 million years ago, long before the death of the dinosaurs. This marked the end of the Triassic Period, when the supercontinent Pangaea, which included all the continents of the world, began to split. The study, published in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, was funded by the National Science Foundation, German Research Foundation, Jurassic Foundation, CNRS, Columbia University Climate Center and the Chevron Student Initiative Fund. Additional support was provided by the Municipality of Loulé, Silves Municipal Council and Board of Parish of Salir Algarve. The excavation took place with paleontology students FCT- New University of Lisbon and the laboratory preparation of the fossils made at the Museum of Lourinhã.
Dr Steve Brusatte of the University of Edinburgh, the first author of the study, said:. "This new amphibian looks like something out of a movie monsters.She was as long as a small car and had hundreds of sharp teeth in its large flat head, which looks like a toilet seat. This was the kind of fierce predator that the first dinosaurs had to face, long before the glory days of T. rex and Brachiosaurus."



this is the original:
Paleontólogos da FCT-UNL descobrem super salamandra do tempo dos dinossauros em Portugal | Departamento de Ciências da Terra


All the best!
 
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