UT at Austin researchers in Patagonia find first record of dinosaur group

A new study in Patagonia, Chile led by the University of Texas at Austin researchers has uncovered the first record of theropods, a group of dinosaurs whose descendants are modern birds and their non-bird relatives, according to a news release.

The findings also included giant megaraptors with large sickle-like claws and birds from a group that includes today's modern species, the university said.

“The fauna of Patagonia leading up to the mass extinction was really diverse,” lead author Sarah Davis said in a statement. “You’ve got your large theropod carnivores and smaller carnivores as well as these bird groups coexisting alongside other reptiles and small mammals.”

The study results were published in Journal of South American Earth Sciences, according to the news release.

The researchers including graduate and undergraduate students, have been working with scientists in Chile since 2017, the university said.

"Over the years, researchers have found abundant plant and animal fossils from before the asteroid strike that killed off the dinosaurs," the news release said.

The focus of the study has been on theropods, fossils dating from 66 to 75 million years ago, according to the university. Researchers collected small fossil fragments including teeth, toes from rocks.

The Southern Hemisphere may have experienced less severe climate change than the Northern Hemisphere after the asteroid strike, the news release said. That provided a refuge animals that survived the strike, according to the university.

“We still need to know how life made its way in that apocalyptic scenario and gave rise to our southern environments in South America, New Zealand and Australia,” said Marcelo Leppe, co-author of the study and the director of the Antarctic Institute of Chile. “Here theropods are still present — no longer as dinosaurs as imposing as megaraptorids — but as the diverse array of birds found in the forests, swamps and marshes of Patagonia, and in Antarctica and Australia.”

The research was funded by the National Science Foundation, the National Agency for Research and Development of Chile, and the Jackson School of Geosciences, the news release said.