Serenading dinosaur found in Mexico

A MARIACHI dinosaur with a head for music has been discovered in Mexico.

The 35ft creature had a fan-shaped bony crest on its skull filled with nasal passages.

Scientists believe the appendage may have been used as a kind of trumpet, with air blown through it to make musical sounds.

The 72 million-year-old dinosaur, named Velafrons coahuilensis, probably performed to attract mates.

It was discovered in a geological site known as the Cerro del Pueblo formation in Coahuila, on the coast of north-central Mexico. Velafrons, was a duck-billed dinosaur, or hadrosaur.

Dr Terry Gates, from the Utah Museum of Natural History in Salt Lake City, US, one of the scientists who described the find in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, said: “The crested duck-billed dinosaurs are an extraordinary example of vertebrate evolution.”

Breathing was a complex business for Velafrons and its kin. Unlike other animals with snouts in front of their eyes, their nose rested on top of the skull.

Air flowed through passages into the crest and finally entered a hole above the eyes.

A University of Utah spokesperson said: “Scientists are uncertain what Velafrons’ fan-shaped crest would have been used for, but a leading hypothesis suggests mate attraction, which explains the nasal passages as a possible musical instrument.”