Episode 346 is all about Abydosaurus, an Early Cretaceous brachiosaurid that’s identified from a number of full skulls.
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On this episode, we focus on:
Information:
- A brand new Heterodontosaurus reveals the primary full set of gastralia ever discovered on an Ornithischian supply
- Triassic fossils had been present in a brand new creek mattress web site in Virginia supply
- A brand new cretaceous ornithopod vertebra was present in Oregon supply
- Roper Mountain Science Middle in South Carolina has an exhibit referred to as Be The Dinosaur this summer season supply
- A Triceratops reproduction is on show on the Waynesboro, Virginia Public Library supply
- “Dinny” the 110 tonne Brontosaurus on the Calgary Zoo is getting repaired supply
- The Science Museum of Minnesota is engaged on getting Minnesota an official state fossil supply
The dinosaur of the day: Abydosaurus
- Brachiosaurid sauropod that lived within the Early Cretaceous in what’s now Utah, United States (Cedar Mountain Formation)
- Sauropod, so had a small head, lengthy neck and tail, and enormous physique (walked on 4, columnar legs)
- In 2012, Thomas Holtz estimated Abydosaurus to be about 60 ft (18.3 m) lengthy
- Holotype is DINO 16488, and features a almost full cranium, decrease jaws, and the primary 4 neck vertebrae
- Discovered about 1200 ft away from the Carnegie Quarry (Late Jurassic )
- BYU college students and college used jackhammers and concrete saws to excavate, and at one level a crew got here in and used explosives to blast away a number of the rock (it was embedded in powerful sandstone)
- A lot of skulls discovered (4)
- All 4 skulls had been from juveniles
- First time an entire sauropod cranium from the Cretaceous has been discovered within the Western Hemisphere (the Americas)
- On the time Abydosaurus was discovered, solely 8 full skulls from 120 identified species had been discovered
- Different fossils discovered (from three different specimens) embody partial skulls, a partial hip, tail vertebrae, shoulder blade, some arm and hand bones
- Named in 2010 by Daniel Chure and others
- Kind species is Abydosaurus mcintoshi
- Genus title means “Abydos lizard”
- Genus title refers back to the city Abydos, the Greek title for town now generally known as El Araba el Madfuna. It was the place the pinnacle and neck of Osiris, the Egyptian god of life, dying, and fertility, was buried, overlooking the Nile River, and the title alludes to the truth that the cranium and neck was present in a quarry overlooking the Inexperienced River
- The species title is in honor of Jack McIntosh for his contributions to Dinosaur Nationwide Monument and the research of sauropods
- He’s a theoretical nuclear physicist professor, and after he retired he labored on sauropods
- McIntosh has written a number of papers and books on sauropods, and he helped present that Apatosaurus had the mistaken head mounted on it within the Seventies (Camarasaurus cranium)
- Skulls had been on show at Brigham Younger College’s Museum of Paleontology, the place guests may see college students put together the bones (whereas they had been being prepped)
- All 4 skulls had been about the identical dimension, at about 1.6 ft (0.5 m) lengthy
- On the time the dinosaur was named, the postcranial fossils had been nonetheless being ready (2010 paper stated they’d be described at a later date)
- Had an analogous cranium to Giraffatitan, aside from the tooth
- Abydosaurus additionally had a extra slim snout than Giraffatitan
- Had small nostrils
- Though now most individuals appear to simply accept that Abydosaurus was much like Giraffatitan, within the 2010 paper the authors wrote that they “think about the choice to acknowledge the African species as a genus aside [from Brachiosaurus] to be arbitrary” in order that they talked about Abydosaurus as being like Brachiosaurus
- They stated they had been open to the potential for Giraffatitan being separate, however stated “we don’t imagine that it’s sufficiently justified at current as a result of the recognized variations haven’t been defended as separating genera, relatively than species, populations, or people”
- Sauropod Vertebra Image of the Week wrote on the time: “I’m form of nonplused by this. I’m actually not saying that my 2009 paper is unassailable: as quickly anybody comes together with proof that Brachiosaurus and Giraffatitan ought to in spite of everything be thought of congeneric, I’ll be first in line to listen to them out. However I do really feel that now 26 osteological variations have been described between the species, the null speculation has shifted, and the burden of proof is now on those that want to synonymise the genera. “We select to retain the unique nomenclature” will not be an argument, and doesn’t actually advance understanding. So I’m afraid I believe this was a regrettable misstep.” (In addition they had been excited in regards to the discover and comfortable that John McIntosh acquired a sauropod named after him)
- Herbivorous
- Had heterodont tooth
- The higher and decrease jaws had 14 tooth on either side
- Had slim tooth, in contrast to earlier brachiosaurids with broader tooth
- Narrower tooth meant it most likely had extra tooth than Giraffatitan
- Changed tooth shortly, much more shortly than Giraffatitan
- Grabbed and swallowed meals
- From the 2010 paper: “The spartan design of sauropod skulls could also be associated to their remarkably small dimension—sauropod skulls account for only one/two hundredth of whole physique quantity in comparison with 1/thirtieth physique quantity in ornithopod dinosaurs.”
- Discovered that sauropods within the Cretaceous advanced to extra quickly exchange tooth, not due to any main change within the variety of vegetation all over the world (although there have been extra conifers and angiosperms) however presumably as a result of they modified their diets to eat “extremely abrasive vegetation” or perhaps they turned extra low shopping (“prospects to be explored by future work”)
- Sauropods most likely didn’t change a lot as a result of the lengthy necks and small skulls helped it to crop meals shortly (maximized consumption of meals)
Enjoyable Reality:
Some dinosaurs ate grass, however people eat rather more grass than non-avian dinosaurs ever did.
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