Meraxes gigas: Scientists discover new giant dinosaur predator with tiny arms

Scientists in Argentina have discovered a new giant carnivorous dinosaur species that had a massive head and tiny arms.

The dinosaur, which resembles Tyrannosaurus rex, has been named Meraxes gigas after a fictional dragon in the Game of Thrones book series.

Starting with the skull, paleontologists dug up its remains over the course of four years during field expeditions in the northern Patagonia region of Argentina.

Peter Makovicky from the University of Minnesota, who is the study's senior author, told the news agency AFP that "We won the lottery and found it literally on the first morning."

Small forelimbs gave apex predators of the time certain survival advantages according to the findings of the study which have been published in the journal Current Biology.

While the entire dinosaur weighed four metric tonnes and was 36 feet long, its skull is just over four feet long (127 centimeters).

Makovicky said its arms were two feet long, "so it's literally half the length of the skull and the animal would not have been able to reach its mouth."

Although Meraxes gigas resembles T-rex it, the latter did not tiny arms from the former as the two species were far apart on the evolutionary tree.

Taking on the function that forelimbs would have had in smaller species, Makovicky believes that as their heads grew larger, it became the dominant tool of their predatory arsenal.

(With inputs from agencies)

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