UFRGS study reveals species that lived 233 million years ago in RS

Mauricio Rodrigo Schmitt, PhD candidate in the Graduate Program in Geosciences at UFRGS (PPGGEO) – Photo: Gustavo Diehl/UFRGS

Researchers from the Graduate Program in Geosciences of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul have discovered fossils of a species that lived in RS 233 million years ago. This finding is the subject of a study published last month in a American Scientific Publishing.

baptizing Santagnathus mariensis, the discovered animal belonged to the group of cynodonts, which later gave rise to mammals. Fossils belonging to four animals were found by a resident of Santa Maria between 2004 and 2005, and were donated to the Vertebrate Paleontological Laboratory at UFRGS.

Study led Mauricio Rodrigo Schmidta PhD student in the Graduate Program in Geosciences at UFRGS (PPGGEO), and began its development in 2019.

More than 200 preserved bones of four animals have been found. The mandible can be separated into two larger and two smaller sections, representing two classes of animal sizes. Fossils are about 1.20 to 1.50 meters long, and between 9.8 and 16 kg. According to Mauricio, none of them were adults yet, so the size of these animals in adulthood is not known.

Materials stored at UFRGS – Image: Gustavo Diehl/UFRGS

“Because we found four individuals together, we can try to infer that they lived (and died) together, which indicates possible behavior of staying in groups, or even parental care,” Mauricio points out.

In addition, it is possible to find out, based on the joints of the skeleton, how the animals walked, and what their food was like, based on the teeth, the “wide” and “deep” shape of which serves to soak food, characteristic of herbivores. Species are part of the group Traversodontidaeconsisting only of herbivorous species.

Tooth highlight, very broad with a deep central area – Image: Gustavo Diehl/UFRGS

Species representation – Photo: Sérgio Lages

Material Santagnathus mariensis Found with decoder Hyperodapedon sp., which belongs to the group Rhyncosaurus, which characterizes the “association region”. So, to find out how long a Santagnathus mariensis lived in the area, the researchers conducted isotope dating – the same carbon-14 dating methodology – in the Rabat area Hyperodapidonewhich is already known and refers to about 233.2 million years ago.