Episode 325 is all about Brontomerus, the “thunder thigh” sauropod from the Early Cretaceous of what’s now Utah.
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On this episode, we focus on:
Information:
- One of many first recognized sauropod skulls has been renamed from Morosaurus to Smitanosaurus agilis supply
- The Denver Museum of Nature and Science has a brand new exhibit referred to as Sue: The T. rex Expertise supply
- The Santa Barbara Museum of Pure Historical past is reopening their Prehistoric Forest (animatronic dinosaur) exhibit supply
The dinosaur of the day: Brontomerus
- Camarasauromorph sauropod (probably doubtful) that lived within the Early Cretaceous in what’s now Utah, US (Cedar Mountain Formation)
- Seemed so much like different sauropods (lengthy neck and tail), and in addition had actually highly effective thighs
- Possibly a robust kicker or a great hiker
- Had uncommon hipbones that may have allowed giant leg muscle attachments (largest leg muscle tissues of any sauropod). Hip bone tasks method ahead from the socket
- Ilium has attachments for abductor muscle tissues, which might permit Brontomerus to maneuver its leg away from its physique
- Mathew Wedel, co-author, has described Brontomerus as “extra athletic than most different sauropods”
- Might not have had sturdy thigh muscle tissues for velocity (don’t see sturdy muscle tissues on the again of the leg)
- Might have had a robust kick, and will have kicked in protection in opposition to predators like Utahraptor or Deinonychus, or to struggle over mates
- Doable that it had thunder thighs to assist it stroll by means of tough, hilly terrain (Mathew Wedel has described it as “a form of dinosaur four-wheel-drive”)
- Additionally doable that it may have often stood on two legs and even generally walked on two legs, or it had actually lengthy legs and wanted muscle tissues to manage them (unclear although, since no leg fossils have been discovered). If it had actually lengthy legs, would have seemed giraffe-like
- Shoulder blade had uncommon bumps, which most likely present boundaries of muscle attachments. Means might have had highly effective forelimb muscle tissues to go together with highly effective thighs
- Two fragmentary specimens discovered, most likely an grownup and juvenile
- Grownup might have been the father or mother to the juvenile (no method of figuring out for certain)
- Paleoart exhibits a mom Brontomerus defending a juvenile by kicking a feathery raptor
- Estimated to be 46 ft (14 m) lengthy and weigh 6 tonnes, as an grownup
- Juvenile/smaller specimen was about 15 ft (4.5 m) lengthy and weighed about 440 lb (200 kg)
- Herbivorous
- Sort species is Brontomerus mcintoshi
- Genus title means “thunder thigh”
- Species title is in honor of John McIntosh, a retired physics professor at Wesleyan College in Connecticut who spent his free time finding out fossils in museums world wide. When he retired, he studied sauropods. The paper described him as a “veteran sauropod employee” whose “seminal paleontological work, performed principally unfunded and on his personal time, has been an inspiration to all of us who observe”
- Discovered on the Resort Mesa Quarry, a website the place non-public collectors had already excavated a lot of fossils, so it’s unclear what else has already been discovered there, and the workforce that discovered Brontomerus discovered lots of damaged fossils
- Fairly basal camarasauromorph, however exhausting to inform
- Want extra fossils
- Doable that there are extra Brontomerus fossils in non-public collections
- Within the paper naming Brontomerus: “given the density of bone nonetheless current and uncovered, and the truth that the present quarry was already some 5–6 m lengthy and three m deep, it seems that a substantial variety of components have been faraway from the quarry and that the lack of beneficial scientific data has sadly been appreciable. Bones left uncovered by these earlier collectors have been in numerous states of disrepair”
- Fossils excavated in 1994 and 1995 by a workforce from the Sam Noble museum in Oklahoma
- Sort specimen is OMNH 66430, the left ilium of the smaller specimen (most likely juvenile)
- Additionally discovered components of the shoulder, hip, ribs, and vertebrae
- Brontomerus fossils have been housed, unidentified, on the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Pure Historical past
- Jim Kirkland and others had thought of them to be “corresponding to Pleurocoelus” in 1997, which on the time was the one recognized Early Cretaceous sauropod from North America
- Named in 2011 by Michael Taylor, Matthew Wedel, and Richard Cifelli
- In 2012, Michael D’Emic did a cladistic evaluation of titanosauriforms and located Brontomerus to be a nomen dubium, as a result of the holotype was too fragmentary and subsequently not diagnostic (distinct sufficient)
- Mike Taylor is a pc programmer, with a PhD in paleontology. He has named three dinosaurs (Xenoposeidon and Haestasaurus, along with Brontomerus), revealed 18 papers, and co-founded Sauropod Vertebra Image of the Week
- Apparently Taylor bought into looking for fossils about 20 years in the past, when he was impressed after studying a paleontology paper on an extended airplane experience. So he learn a bunch of books and journals. As a result of he’s revealed so many papers, he bought a proper PhD in 2009 from the College of Portsmouth
- Taylor grew to become pen buddies with Mathew Wedel, and he research fossils in museum collections
- Helped present there was extra variety in sauropods within the Early Cretaceous (eighth sauropod named from the Early Cretaceous in North America)
- Different animals that lived across the similar time and place embody theropods, ornithopods, crocodyliforms, and fish
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