Dinosaur World 05 Southern Cross Dragon

The origin of the name Southern Cross Dragon: First of all, Southern Cross Dragon is a constellation, so what is the relationship between dinosaurs and constellations?

The answer to this name comes from the place where the Southern Cross dinosaur was discovered. The Southern Cross dinosaur fossil was discovered in Santa Maria, southern Brazil, South America on 1970. At that time, there were very few examples of dinosaurs found in the southern hemisphere, so the fossil was named after the southern ten stars that can only be seen in the southern hemisphere. At the same time, so far, this group of fossils found in Brazil is the only relatively complete fossil specimen of the Southern Cross dinosaur.

Life cycle;

Southern Cross Dragon first appeared in Brazil in the late Jurassic. They are about 2 meters long and weigh about 30 kilograms, with a large proportion of their heads. As carnivorous dinosaurs, their jaws had neat and sharp teeth, they liked to feed on small animals and often rounded up animals much bigger than themselves in groups. Their forelimbs are very short, and their hind legs can help them catch their prey better like slender bird legs. Their long tails can balance their bodies when they walk and run quickly. They pass through scientists.

Traceability of Southern Cross Dragon;

According to the fossil record of Southern Cross, only most vertebrae, hind limbs and jaws were found. However, because the fossil age is in the early dinosaur era, with a high degree of primitiveness, most features of the Southern Cross Dragon have been reconstructed. For example, Southern Cross Dragon often refers to five fingers and five toes, which is a very primitive dinosaur feature. At the same time, due to the discovery of the leg bones of the Southern Cross Dragon, it can be inferred that the Southern Cross Dragon is a runner through comparative analysis with the leg bones of the later dinosaurs. Secondly, the skeleton structure of Southern Cross Dragon has only two vertebrae connecting pelvis and spine, which is an obvious primitive arrangement. At the same time, the tail of the southern cross dragon may be long and thin; Compared with the sauropods in the later period, they were different in weight from the Southern Cross, but their tails were bigger and shorter.

Now some researchers can reconstruct the mandible of Southern Cross Dragon by computer modeling technology. After three-dimensional operation, it shows that the Southern Cross Dragon has a sliding mandibular joint, which can make the mandible move up and down. Therefore, in the process of hunting, Southern Cross Dragon can push smaller prey to the back of throat along small and backward curved teeth. This feature was quite common among theropods at that time, but it disappeared quietly in the later theropods. At present, research experts speculate that when they devour smaller prey, they no longer need this way with the passage of time or the influence of the environment.

Although the teeth and posture of Southern Cross indicate that it is a carnivorous dinosaur, some researchers believe that it belongs to sauropod dinosaur type, because the skeleton of Southern Cross has many characteristics similar to those of primitive sauropod dinosaurs. Therefore, the researchers speculate that the Southern Cross may represent the transition period from the ancestors of sauropods to the branches of theropods and sauropods. However, an unnamed fossil found in Arizona's colorful desert is considered to be a typical protosauropod dinosaur. It seems that the primitive sauropods evolved before the appearance of the Southern Cross Dragon. New research shows that the Southern Cross Dragon and its close relatives, Aposaurus and Ailerosaurus, belong to theropoda, which evolved after sauropoda and theropoda evolved separately.