First Canadian 'Dinosaur' Is A 'Dimetrodon Borealis'

One of the first Canadian 'dinosaur' fossils to be found has been titled 'Dimetrodon borealis.'

The Dimetrodon fossil was discovered on Prince Edward Island in 1845, while a farmer was digging out a well on his property. Initially, the dinosaur fossil was called Bathygnathus borealis, but after years of studying the fossil researchers decided to rename it 'Dimetrodon borealis,' according to a news release.

The 'Dimetrodon borealis' finding initiated that the Dimetrodons made an appearance in Canada millions of years ago. Researchers from the University of Toronto, Carleton University and the Royal Ontario Museum studied the fossil's steak knife-like teeth, which revealed clues about its Dimetrodon's lineage and features.

"It's really exciting to discover that the detailed anatomy of the teeth has finally allowed us to identify precisely this important Canadian fossil," Kirstin Brink, lead author of the study said in a news release. "Dimetrodon is actually more closely related to mammals than it is to dinosaurs."

Researchers believe that the Dimetrodons became extinct 40 million years before the dinosaurs. The fossil was sold to the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia, so that it could be studied and named by Joseph Leidy, who was one of the most prominent paleontologists during the 1800s.

Leidy called fossil 'Bathygnathus borealis' as he thought it was the lower jaw of a dinosaur, since similar fossils were collected in Europe at the time. The fossil was studied by many researchers for many years, but they were unable to identify it.

The fossil's well preserved teeth revealed that it belonged to the Dimetrodon species, which is said to be the first terrestrial animal with "ziphodont" teeth.

"These are blade-like teeth with tiny serrations along the front and back of the teeth, similar to a steak knife," said Professor Robert Reisz, a senior author of the study. "The roots of these teeth are very long, around double the length of the crowns. This type of tooth is very effective for biting and ripping flesh from prey."

The findings of this study were published in Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences.

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