Argentina fossil discovery reveals new dinosaur with tiny arms

Researchers stumbled across a Theropod fossil in Argentina, and found that the dinosaur from whence it came had 'tiny' arms not unlike the T-Rex. While the dinosaur itself was 20ft or a bit larger, its arms were a comical 2ft in length and its hand had only two fingers. Why? The researchers aren't sure, but the discovery will no doubt lead to answers as paleontologists work on studying the bones.

According to paleontologist Sebastian Apesteguia, "Something totally new has been discovered, a new lineage that we didn't know of before." As it turns out, the fossils were found all the way back in 2007; an analysis of them, however, only recently took place. Though details are still slight at this time, it did reveal that the T-rex wasn't the only big dinosaur out there with tiny arms.

The researchers have dubbed the newly discovered dinosaur the Gualicho shinyae, and say it is somewhere around 94 million years old. The fossils were found in a boneyard of sorts in the region's northern Patagonia, which has uncovered fossils from other dinosaurs and more.

As with other short-armed theropods, this newly discovered species probably didn't use its arms for much, and likely hunted using its head like the T-rex. Because the dinosaur's jaws would have been so powerful, the usefulness of arms was naturally reduced, and larger arms would have just gotten in the way.

SOURCE: NY Times, PLOS