西班牙发现欧洲首具腕龙恐龙化石

西班牙科学家在东部城镇埃尔卡斯特拉的拉特赫拉化石遗址发现了首具在北美以外地区出土的腕龙恐龙骨骼化石1。该化石距今约1.5亿年，由14节尾椎骨和多块人字骨组成1。这项发现打破了腕龙长期以来被认为是美洲独有物种的观点2，研究成果已刊登在《脊椎动物古生物学杂志》上1。

由特鲁埃尔迪诺波利斯基金会主导的研究团队认为，这是欧洲最完整的龙脚类恐龙骨骼之一1。科学家推断，在侏罗纪晚期，北美和欧洲大陆之间存在过陆地桥梁或海退事件，使得腕龙等陆生恐龙能够跨越原始大西洋进行迁移1。这一发现重塑了人们对侏罗纪晚期这种标志性恐龙地理分布和迁徙方式的认知2。

Spanish scientists have uncovered the first skeletal remains of a Diplodocus dinosaur ever found outside North America, challenging long-held assumptions about the geographic distribution of this iconic sauropod. 12 The fossil, discovered at the La Tejera site in El Castellar, in Spain's eastern Teruel region, consists of fourteen tail vertebrae and multiple chevron bones dating back approximately 150 million years to the Late Jurassic period. 1

The discovery suggests that during the Late Jurassic era—specifically the Kimmeridgian–Tithonian period—a land bridge or marine regression event connected North America and Europe, allowing terrestrial dinosaurs to migrate across the primordial Atlantic Ocean. 1 Researchers at the Teruel Dinopolis Foundation, whose findings were published this week in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, describe the remains as "one of the most complete sauropod dinosaur skeletons in Europe." 1 The researchers propose several possible migration routes, including one linking the Iberian Peninsula to present-day Canada, another connecting North America and Scandinavia, and a third route between Brazil and Cameroon. 1 This finding fundamentally revises scientific understanding of Diplodocus distribution and movement during the Jurassic period. 12