New Fruit-Eating Dinosaur Species Infernogallus jamesi Discovered by Stony Brook and ROM Paleontologists

Paleontologists from Stony Brook University, the Royal Ontario Museum, and the North Dakota Geological Survey have identified a new dinosaur species, Infernogallus jamesi, that specialized in eating fruit. The small oviraptorosaur, whose name means 'James's hell chicken,' had unique chewing muscles adapted for mashing soft food, making it the first known fruit-eating dinosaur. This discovery, published in the journal Scientific Reports, sheds light on how dinosaurs adapted to the rise of flowering plants during the Cretaceous period. The fossil, found in the Hell Creek Formation of North Dakota, provides rare evidence of dietary specialization among dinosaurs, which were previously thought to be either carnivorous or herbivorous. Infernogallus jamesi lived approximately 66 million years ago, just before the mass extinction that wiped out non-avian dinosaurs. Its fruit-based diet suggests that early flowering plants and their fruits were an important food source for some dinosaur groups, influencing their evolution. This finding highlights the ecological diversity of dinosaurs and offers new insights into the co-evolution of dinosaurs and angiosperms.