The missing digits of the toothless dino point to the spread of the parrot-like species

A newly discovered species of toothless, two-fingered dinosaur sheds light on how a mass of parrot-like animals thrived millions of million years ago

Researchers say the unusual species has one finger less on each hand than close relatives, indicating the adaptation that the animals had spread during the late Cretaceous period.

A team from the University of Edinburgh has discovered several complete skeletons of the new species in the Gobi Desert of Mongolia.

The feathered, omnivorous creatures called Ok Kasoko Avarsan grew about two meters long and had only two functional digits on each arm. The animals had a large, toothless beak similar to the type found in parrot species today.

Significantly preserved fossils have provided the first evidence of digit loss in a three-fingered family of dinosaurs known as oviraptors.

They say they can develop adaptations suggesting the group can make changes to their diets and lifestyles, and enable them to diversify and multiply, the team says.

The researchers studied the reduction in the size of the third finger and the ultimate damage in the evolutionary history of oviparators. With the migration to new geographical areas, especially now in North America and the Gobi Desert, the group’s hands and arms have changed drastically.

The team also found that, like other prehistoric species, the Ok Xoco Averson was as social as the juvenile. Four young dinosaur fossils were rested together.

The study, published in the journal Royal Society Open Science, Funded by The Royal Society and the Council of Natural Sciences and Engineering of Canada. It includes the University of Alberta and Philip J. of Canada. Researchers from the Currie Dinosaur Museum, Hokkaido University in Japan and the Mongolian Academy of Sciences were also involved.

Dr Gregory Funsten of the University of Edinburgh School Ge Geosins, who led the study, said: “Oxco Everson is interesting because the skeleton is so full and the way they were resting together shows that teenagers But more importantly, with his two-fingered hand, he would tell us to look at the way the hands and forearms changed during the evolution of the Oviraptors, which had not been studied before. The key part of the puzzle is why oviraptors were. There are so many different types of dinosaurs killed before extinction. ”