Only in Your State | New Mexico | 2020 | by Monica Spencer
New Mexico’s arid badlands may be lacking water, but those colorful, surreal landscapes are hiding more than just incredible views.
In fact, there are concealed treasures that are millions of years old.
In March of this year a group of paleontologists published a paper detailing a new species of a carnivorous dinosaur that was discovered in New Mexico’s Bisti/De-Na-Zin Wilderness.
Yes. Right here in New Mexico!
The dinosaur, recently named the Dineobellator notohesperus, is a relative of the more widely known velociraptor, which became popular on the Jurassic Park films and was just as deadly when it roamed the land about 70 to 66 million years ago.
Raptors were depicted as powerful, fast, dangerous creatures in the Jurassic Park films and, aside from the reptilian look, this wasn’t far from the truth.
The new Dineobellator was smaller than the velociraptor, measuring just over six feet in length with more refined bones and heightened agility. This dinosaur was quicker, stronger, and far more agile than its velociraptor relatives, with a pack of them able to take down massive prey like a wooly mammoth or even a Tyrannosaurus Rex!
It’s these incredible abilities that led researchers to name the creature Dineobellator notohesperus. The name is a combination of Latin and Navajo languages, and roughly translates to “Navajo warrior from the American Southwest.”
When discovered, the bones were assumed to be from other varieties of Dromaeosaurids—the proper name for raptors—but further analysis and excavation over the years led paleontologists to confirm it was part of its own subfamily and at some estimated 68 million-years-old, these creatures were among the last in existence of their kind.
Dinosaurs underwent extinction about two million years later during the Cretaceous period, meaning the Dineobellator had a limited time to terrorize and pursue its prey.
For more information about the new dinosaur, check out this link to the Scientific Reports journal the study was published in.
Looking for more evidence of dinosaurs in the Land of Enchantment.
Be sure to pay a visit to Clayton Lake State Park to see a massive number of prehistoric fossils, including dinosaur footprints. Read more in A Trip To This Fossil Park In New Mexico Is An Adventure Like No Other.
