Small-sized, armoured dinosaur fossils discovered in South America 

Do you wish that you lived in the Jurassic Age? Have you watched and rewatched all dinosaur movies available and read all about them? Well, you have definitely not read this brand-new one that experts from Argentina have recently discovered! So, brace yourself! 

Recently, palaeontologists of Felix de Azara Natural History Foundation, Argentina found traces of small-sized, prickly dinosaurs from fossils discovered in the Rio Negro province of northern Patagonis, located in Argentina, South America. And guess what? They represent a new lineage of armoured dinosaurs, whose existence wasn’t known so far. Exciting, isn’t it?  

Introducing Jakapil kaniukura 
The newly-discovered species of dinosaur has been named Jakapil kaniukura, as revealed by the study published in the scientific journal Nature Reports. It has a similar appearance to that of its primitive relative namely, Ankylosaurus or Stegosauru. Both of them lived in the Cretaceous period (94 to 97 million years ago), or the last age of dinosaurs and are also armoured. This makes Jakapil kaniukura a part of the armoured-back group of dinosaurs called Thyreophora. 

Interestingly, the name "Jakapil'' comes from a word meaning "shield bearer" in the Puelchean or northern Tehuelchean, two of the native languages of Argentina. "Kanikura" on the other hand is derived from the words meaning "crest" and "stone" in another indigenous Argentine language, Mapudungun.  

Here’s some more information for your curious mind. As evident from the partial skeletons of the subadult discovered at the site, Jakapil kaniukura’s weight as estimated by the scientists might have been close to that of a common-day house cat (yes, it’s that tiny!). However, its most significant feature was its rows of disk-shaped protective spines (read body armour!) ranging from its neck, back and right down to the tail, that was approximately 5 feet long. It was an herbivore as evident from its leaf-shaped teeth fossils, much like Stegosaurus. It is also likely that this newly found armoured dinosaur scurried pretty upright on its two legs and even possessed a short beak that could have delivered a strong bite and also enabled it to feed on tough, woody vegetation. Scientists also predict that their body armour made Jakapil kaniukura defend against potential predators.  

A startling discovery 
In case you are wondering what makes the discovery of this new dinosaur special, this is it. As it turns out, Jakapil kaniukura becomes the only armoured dinosaur in the Southern hemisphere. In fact, most thyreophorans belong to the Northern Hemisphere, more specifically North America and Europe, and even dates back to the Jurassic age (160 to 200 million years ago), unlike the new one that hailed from the Cretaceous period. Hence, the recent discovery proves that thyreophorans had much wider geographical distribution than earlier thought and even managed to survive all the way to the last age of dinosaurs.