Diversity is central to one of the biggest questions paleontologists have about dinosaurs.
A group of Earth scientists believes they probably were not.
But among paleontologists, its a bit of a hot-button issue.
Reconstruction of a late Maastrichtian (~66 million years ago) palaeoenvironment in North America, where a floodplain is roamed by dinosaurs like Tyrannosaurus rex, Edmontosaurus annectens and Triceratops prorsus.© Davide Bonadonna
Those who believe dinosaurs were dwindlingclaimthat new species were appearing with less frequency compared to previous eras.
They focused in particular on dinosaurs belonging to the Ankylosauridae, Ceratopsidae, Hadrosauridae, and Tyrannosauridae families.
The WIB represents an unprecedented dataset for discerning patterns in dinosaur evolution, the team wrote.
The results showed that population levels would have remained fairly stable over time.
According to their calculations, the dinosaurs didnt decline, but the odds of finding evidence of them did.
This shows we cant take the fossil record at face value.
Half the fossils we have from this time were found in North America.
What If the Asteroid Never Killed the Dinosaurs?
While the research is compelling, it likely isnt a smoking gun.
It should be fun to see what the next punch thrown in this paleontologic fistfight brings.
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Now, scientists say it belonged to a Denisovan man.
