When paleontologists discovered a drumstick from what can finest be described as a 68-million-year-old hen from hell, they wanted professional on prehistoric hell chickens to verify it as a brand new species. They usually discovered her in Wyoming at Laramie County Group Faculty.A just lately printed scientific paper introduced a brand new species of dinosaur from the Hell Creek Formation of South Dakota. Eoneophron infernalis, described within the paper as “the Pharoah’s daybreak hen from hell,” is a form of two-legged theropod known as a caenagnathid, which is distantly associated to the well-known T. rex and velociraptor (and chickens, by proxy).Not like fashionable chickens, these might develop to be about 170 kilos.Jade Simon, an adjunct geology teacher at LCCC’s Albany County Campus, is likely one of the paper’s authors. Her specialty is the lineage of Late Cretaceous hell chickens.“They introduced me on to assist examine with the opposite caenagnathids that I research as a result of I do lots of this,” she informed Cowboy State Every day. “We regarded over all of the specimens, in contrast my information from different specimens I had or was learning and found out collectively that it was a brand new species.”Egg Thieves And Hell ChickensSimon is a vertebrate paleontologist with levels from West Virginia College and Montana State College. Whereas she teaches geology at LCCC, she’s additionally engaged on her Ph.D. in ecology and evolutionary biology from the College of Toronto.She defined {that a} caenagnathid is a form of oviraptor, aka “egg thief,” a gaggle of dinosaurs that mix the physique of a nimbly constructed meat-eating dinosaur with a parrot-like beak on the finish of an extended, slender neck. They technically have been much less like chickens and extra like much more murderous and monstrous geese.“Oviraptors are a gaggle that is actually near the chook lineage,” she mentioned. “They’re very bird-like, with a beak as a substitute of an extended jaw with tooth and feathers over their entire physique. They’re actually attention-grabbing animals. I research the expansion and variety of that group.”Caenagnathids are a household of huge oviraptors. The biggest one discovered (to this point) is gigantoraptor from Mongolia, which is 26 ft lengthy and weighs round 2 tons.In comparison with their Cretaceous contemporaries like T. Rex and Triceratops, which lived on the identical time and place, caenagnathids are very uncommon within the Hell Creek and Lance formations of North America. Most are solely identified from fragmentary skeletons.One other caenagnathid, Anzu, has been discovered within the Hell Creek Formation. A totally grown Anzu might develop as a lot as 12 ft lengthy and virtually 5 ft tall — a very great hell hen.Overview picture of at the moment identified materials for the brand new caenagnathid Eoneophron infernalis. (Courtesy Kyle Atkins-Weltman)The tibia of Eoneophron infernalis, the hen from hell. (Cowboy State Every day Workers)Histology slide (skinny part of bone to look at below a microscope) of the tibia. (Cowboy State Every day Workers)Jade Simon with a unique caenaghathid foot (Macrophalangia canadensis) on the Royal Ontario Museum. (Courtesy Danielle Dufault)Arrow leftArrow rightSimon Says SoSimon’s dissertation concerned learning bones from dozens of caenagnathids from america and Canada. That’s why she was enlisted to help within the research of the brand new fossil, a partial leg, within the collections of the Carnegie Museum of Pure Historical past in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.“At first, Kyle Atkins-Weltman, the lead writer of the research, and his advisor, Dr. Eric Snively, thought it could be a juvenile,” she mentioned. “However once we regarded on the bone histology, lower it up and put it below a microscope, we found out that it was truly mature already. It is totally grown.”The drumstick the paleontologists studied got here from a completely grown animal that was solely 3 ft tall. Because it was too small and previous to be from a juvenile Anzu, they realized it will need to have come from a brand new kind of caenagnathid.Establishing a brand new dinosaur species takes lots of analysis, and proof as stable because the rocks preserving the fossils. Simon additionally highlighted some “distinctive anatomical options” within the leg and ankle, suggesting that the bone belonged to its personal dinosaur and never a smaller model of its bigger relative, Anzu.Put all of it collectively, and the paleontologists concluded that their drumstick was a brand new merchandise on the Hell Creek Formation’s menu. Thus, Eoneophron was named.Not Chickening OutSimon mentioned the invention of Eoneophron is an thrilling addition to an ongoing debate. Their analysis has discovered a brand new species of dinosaur dwelling at a time when most paleontologists imagine dinosaur variety was declining.The Hell Creek Formation preserves the final days of the dinosaurs earlier than the Cretaceous-Paleogene Extinction, when an extraterrestrial object, both a comet or meteor, slammed into Earth 66 million years in the past. That impression heralded the top of the dinosaurs’ 160-million-year reign.For many years, paleontologists believed dinosaurs have been already on the decline for tens of millions of years earlier than the impression. Simon mentioned the invention of Eoneophron means that the decline won’t have been so dramatic, if it was occurring in any respect.“For a very long time, paleontologists have thought that it is attainable that dinosaurs have been declining,” she mentioned. “They have been much less numerous, and there have been fewer of them earlier than the asteroid impression, so possibly they have been on their approach out already. Quite a lot of latest info, together with this research, is exhibiting the alternative. It appears to be like like lots of completely different teams have been diversifying.”Wyoming could possibly be a vital participant on this ongoing debate. Ongoing excavations for the Triceratops Gulch Challenge in Glenrock recommend extra dinosaur variety on the finish of the Cretaceous Interval than beforehand believed.“Dinosaurs have been doing nice,” Simon mentioned. “They weren’t actually declining. They have been truly diversifying earlier than the asteroid.”Jade Simon inspecting fossil eggshell within the area. (Courtesy Dr. David Evans)Artist reconstruction of the brand new caenagnathid Eoneophron infernalis alongside Anzu wyliei and the smaller unnamed Hell Creek caenagnathid in an setting reflective of the paleoenvironment of the Hell Creek Formation. (Artist, Zubin Dutta)Arrow leftArrow rightA Paleontologist’s DreamSimon remains to be engaged on her doctorate dissertation on caenagnathids. However now, she will get to incorporate a brand new species she helped uncover.As soon as she will get her Ph.D. in paleontology, she’s not sure the place her analysis will take her. Nevertheless, she’s hopeful that it’ll preserve her in Wyoming.“I’d love to remain in Wyoming,” she mentioned. “The state has an unimaginable and distinctive fossil document. You could find every thing from so many various levels of Earth’s historical past. A number of the first proof of life on our planet, up by way of dinosaurs and into the Eocene, which is fairly phenomenal.”Within the meantime, Simon nonetheless has extra hell hen mysteries to type out. She hopes future excavations within the Lance Formation in japanese Wyoming will reveal extra caenagnathid fossils, together with Eoneophron.No Eonenophron fossils have been confirmed from Wyoming, however the hell hen would have had a house within the Cowboy State 68 million years in the past. Fossils and footprints from its bigger modern Anzu have been present in Newcastle, Glenrock and elsewhere in japanese Wyoming.Having a couple of South Dakota drumstick from a species she helped uncover could be nice, however Simon’s not too specific. So long as she’s discovering fossils in Wyoming, she will preserve dreaming about hell chickens whereas dwelling in a prehistoric heaven.“You’ve bought all of it in Wyoming,” she mentioned. “It is form of a paleontologist’s dream to be right here.” Andrew Rossi could be reached at arossi@cowboystatedaily.com.