Discovery of a small dinosaur in Argentina rewrites the history of giant creatures, as “Huairasinensis gaguinensis” represents an ancient species that exhibits characteristics of long-necked dinosaurs and reveals their evolution in the Triassic period. The discovery expands the geographical map of dinosaurs and reveals their adaptation to diverse environments.
In the high Andes Mountains of Argentina, paleontologists have discovered a rare dinosaur that could rewrite important chapters in the history of these giant creatures.
The new dinosaur, named “Huairasinensis gaguinensis” (meaning wind runner), lived about 231 million years ago and is considered one of the oldest known species to begin showing characteristics of long-necked dinosaurs, which later appeared in enormous sizes such as “Brachiosaurus” and “Diplodocus.”
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09634-3
The study, published in the journal “Nature,” explained that this discovery provides new evidence of how the first dinosaurs began to increase in size and extend their necks at the beginning of their era in the late Triassic period.
A new window on dinosaurs
One researcher explains that the Late Triassic period witnessed significant environmental transformations, with climate changes and the extinction of many species, paving the way for the rise of new groups of creatures such as dinosaurs, mammal-like reptiles, and crocodile relatives.
He adds that most of what scientists know about the beginnings of dinosaurs came from two main regions in South America: the Ischigualasto Basin in Argentina and the Paraná Basin in Brazil.
But the new discovery came from a completely different place, the Santo Domingo rock formation in a remote area known as “Quebrada Santo Domingo” in the Andes Mountains of northwestern Argentina, at an altitude of about 3,000 meters. The site is located within a previously unknown geological basin, which scientists have named the “Northern Precordillera Basin.”
The team confirms that this discovery not only adds a new type of dinosaur but also expands our geographical map of its early period, noting that the first dinosaurs did not live only in the lowlands but also reached rugged mountainous areas that had not been explored before.
What is “Wind Runner”?
“Huairasinensis” was a small dinosaur, about one and a half meters long and weighing about 18 kilograms, roughly the size of a large turkey.
Although it walked on two legs and lived a fast and agile life, it showed early signs of transformation toward the giant form later known in herbivorous dinosaurs, according to one researcher.
One researcher says that its cervical vertebrae were longer than its ancestors such as “Eoraptor” and “Saturnalia,” and its limb bones were more powerful.
He adds that these characteristics, in addition to the beginnings of neck elongation and increased body mass, are two essential features in the adaptations of long-necked dinosaurs that fed on high plants in later eras.
Researchers believe that this species represents one of the oldest pieces of evidence that increased size and neck length occurred together in the early stages of this lineage’s history.
He adds: “The first dinosaurs were small and light, weighing no more than 10 kilograms, but within a few million years, species such as ‘Huairasinensis’ appeared, which doubled in size and began to extend their necks.”
He explains: “This means that the basic structure of the giants who later dominated the earth had begun to form very early in the history of dinosaurs.”
The geological study also showed that the rocks in which this creature was buried differ from those in previously known sites, indicating that these animals were able to adapt to diverse environments, from low valleys to high mountains.
source: 961 today
