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| Hypothetical reconstruction of the flesh-eating dinosaur Concavenator that lived 125 million years ago shows the animal's humpback and spiky appendages on its forearms that may have been wings. Copyright: Raúl Martín. |
| Researchers found five bony bumps on the arm bones and one on the back, where the hind legs join the spine. It has jaws and small clawed forelimbs that bears some resemblance to Tyrannosaurus rex (belonging to some other dinosaur family). However, the similarities ends here as the new species sports a surprisingly curved spine with a hump and believed to be from theropod family.The bumps found on the fossil closely resemble the attachment points for feathers found in modern birds and might provide answers about when feathered creatures started coming into existence. |
A professor at the Universidad Autonoma de Madrid, Jose Sanz, believe, more study is needed to be done on theropod species as birds have originated from this group.
"They are a very important group of dinosaurs because within this group there are the birds. Birds are really a kind of specialized winged and flying theropod dinosaur,” said Sanz.
Unresolved bump mysteryAs per Ortega, the new findings are thrilling but bumps on the fossil are still a mystery as they are not sure about its actual purpose.
Ortega believes that bump could have been used as a communication tool by this theropod among its own kind or to regulate body temperature or to store fat.
