S2E11: A New Species of Thyreophoran Dinosaur with Facundo Riguetti

Did you know that there are still new dinosaurs being identified?

In this episode, hear from Facundo Riguetti, a PhD student of the Universidad Maimónides-CONICET and a fellow of the Fundación de Historia Natural Félix de Azara, both in Buenos Aires. He'll tell us how his new species of dinosaur was collected, what makes it different from others of its clade, and even some theories on key morphological features which make it unique from other similar genera. It's the first of its kind to be found in South America, making it an especially important discovery!

Facundo Riguetti’s paper “A new Cretaceous thyreophoran from Patagonia supports a South American lineage of armoured dinosaurs” is in the August 11, 2022, issue of Scientific Reports, volume 12 article 11621. It can be found here: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-15535-6 New Species: Jakapil kaniukura (Riguetti, Apesteguía & Pereda-Suberbiola)

Episode image courtesy of Facundo Riguetti

And a bonus! Facundo's new species has been imagined to life through an animation by Gabriel Díaz Yanten, Mauricio Alvarez, and Lautaro Rodríguez Blanco. Watch their clip below, and follow @PaleoGDY on twitter or the artists on instagram for more of their work.

Animation: https://twitter.com/PaleoGDY/status/1557819385946988544?s=20&t=wa4k41TzTZk8WZLLYf_6PA

https://www.instagram.com/lautarorodriguezblanco/ (Lautaro Rodríguez Blanco; sculpture)

https://www.instagram.com/paleogdy/ (Gabriel Díaz Yanten; 3D models and renders) https://www.instagram.com/mauricio_alvarez_art/ (Mauricio Alvarez; illustration and skin of models)