Why is it in the News?

Brazil's geological service recently announced a new species of dinosaur, a speedy animal that lived in the desert during the early Cretaceous period.

About Farlowichnus Rapidus:

• The new species of dinosaur was a small carnivorous animal about the size of a modern-day seriema bird, or about 60-90 cm (2-3 feet) tall.
• it was a very fast reptile that ran across the ancient dunes.
• These fossilized dinosaur "trackways," were first found in the 1980s by Italian priest and paleontologist Giuseppe Leonardi in the city of Araraquara, in Sao Paulo (Brazil).
• It lived during the early Cretaceous period.

About Cretaceous Period:

• The Cretaceous Period, spanning from approximately 145 to 66 million years ago, represents the third and final epoch of the Mesozoic Era.
• It is characterized by significant geological and biological events.
• The climate was generally warm, and the world's continents were positioned closer to their present locations.
• The Cretaceous witnessed the proliferation of diverse and iconic dinosaurs, including the formidable Tyrannosaurus rex and the enormous herbivorous sauropods.
• Additionally, flowering plants, or angiosperms, experienced a remarkable evolutionary expansion during this period, transforming terrestrial ecosystems.
• Towards the end of the Cretaceous, a catastrophic event, possibly a large asteroid impact, led to the mass extinction of dinosaurs and numerous other species, marking the boundary between the Cretaceous and the subsequent Paleogene Period.
• This extinction event profoundly shaped the course of Earth's biological evolution.