The Reinaut Formation in the south of the continent called Guralta is one of, if not the most extensive fossil site from the late Bobossic. Dated to have been formed between 125 and 122 million Eryobian years ago, the Reinaut Formation offers a glimpse of what life was like in the Kikilian, the latest stage of the Bobossic right before the devastating mass extinction dubbed “The World Scarring” happened.
Back when it was formed, the Reinaut Formation was likely a subtropical or temperate open woodland subject to seasonal rains. The fossils discovered in the Reinaut Formation so far, have mostly been megafaunal animals which tended to fossilise better than smaller animals in the conditions that were present in Reinaut 122 million years ago.
Besides Pachystreptoceros, the Reinaut Formation yielded a second Sterptoceratine Ceratanodirid dubbed Addacoceros formosus. Addacoceros was an average sized Ceratanodirid which, weighing up to about 3 metric tons, was still a massive animal. Typical of Streptoceratines, Addacoceros had one massive horn that curved around a central axis. This horn was most likely used predominantly for display, as it seemed to be quite fragile and not suited for intraspecific combat, though it may have been used to ward off predators. Addacoceros appears to have been a rare animal in its ecosystem. While the material assigned to Pachystreptoceros consists of the remains of about a dozen individuals, the amount of Addacoceros indivuals discovers can be counted on one hand. Whether it is purely a coincidence or an indicator of ecological niche, only one of those individuals appears to have been a male and unfortunately happened to also be the least complete. As such, there is no way of knowing to what extent Addacoceros displayed sexual dimorphism.
No comments:
Post a Comment