German researchers said Monday they have discovered a fossil of a feathered hatchling that may be the earliest evidence of a plumed, meat-eating dinosaur that was not closely related to birds.

The fossil is believed to belong to a young land-based dinosaur from the Late Jurassic period, some 170 million years ago, said the study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Named Sciurumimus albersdoerferi, in part after its bushy, squirrel-like tail -- tree squirrels come from the genus Sciurus -- it is the "most complete megalosauroid fossil yet," the study said.

Megalosauroid is the name for a wide-ranging group of carnivorous dinosaurs that could grow as big as 30 feet long (nine meters) and weigh up to one ton.

The fossil, which shows a juvenile dinosaur with its jaws open and tail extending far over its head, was found in a quarry in Bavaria, Germany.

The hatchling likely had a large skull, shorter hind limbs and smooth skin with feathers covering its entire body.

Earlier this year, paleontologists in China said they had found a bizarre species of giant feathered dinosaur that weighed as much as a car and was related to the Tyrannosaurus Rex.

The soil has been dated to around 125 million years ago to the mid-Cretaceous period, at the peak of the dinosaurs' long reign over the planet.

That new species was named Yutyrannus huali, an amalgam of Latin and Mandarin which means "beautiful feathered tyrant." (AFP )

척추 뼈 하나까지 ‘생생한’ 깃털 공룡 화석


독일에서 척추 뼈 하나까지 완벽하게 ‘살아있는’ 새끼 공룡의 화석이 공개돼 학계의 관심을 한 몸에 받고 있다고 외신이 3일 보도했다.

1억 3500만년 전 유럽에서 살았던 것으로 추정되는 이 공룡의 화석은 지난 2009년 독일 남부의 한 채석장에서 발견됐으며 보존 비율이 98%에 달해 학자들을 놀라게 했다.

이 화석의 주인 이름은 시우루미머스(Sciurumimus)로, 육식성에 두발로 보행한 수강아목의 공룡으로 추정된다고 보도는 전했다.

몸에 난 잔털까지 확인할 수 있는 만큼, 유럽에서 발견한 공룡화석 중 가장 완벽한 보존 상태를 보인 이 공룡은 몸길이가 72㎝에 불과하며 생김새는 티라노사우르스와 유사하다고 전해졌다.

koreatimes  7월3일  字