Episode 254 is all about Alioramus, a tyrannosaurid from Asia with almost 80 tooth and eight small horns on its snout.
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On this episode, we talk about:
Information:
- New alvarezsauroid, Shishugounykus inexpectus, was described from China supply
- New Saurornitholestes specimens develop what we all know in regards to the genus and synonymize supply
- Saturnalia cranium and jaw bones have been CT scanned and assist present why its cranium was small supply
- Darwin and Dinosaurs exhibition opened in Idaho Falls supply
- An enormous hen skeleton was put in on the Denver Central Library supply
The dinosaur of the day: Alioramus
- Tyrannosaurid that lived within the Late Cretaceous in what’s now Asia (principally Mongolia)
- Bipedal, and had sharp tooth
- Solely recognized from juvenile or sub-adult specimens, so not clear how massive it was as an grownup
- Kurzanov estimated it to be 16 to twenty ft (5 to six m) lengthy, however apparently he didn’t bear in mind the truth that skulls lengthen/get deformed throughout fossilization, so could also be an overestimate
- Had extra tooth than different tyrannosaurids
- Had 76 or 78 tooth, greater than different tyrannosaurids
- Had lengthy legs, which is like different younger tyrannosaurs (had lengthy legs and will fill a special area of interest than bigger, grownup tyrannosaurs)
- Lengthy legs meant it might hunt small, quick prey
- Two species: Alioramus remotus and Alioramus altai
- Sort species is Alioramus remotus
- Named in 1976 by Sergei Kurzanov
- Identify means “completely different department”
- Crest and low cranium seemed completely different from different tyrannosaurids, and Kurzanov thought it was not intently associated to different family members (therefore the identify “completely different department”)
- Not clear how its associated to different tyrannosaurids, could also be intently associated to Tarbosaurus bataar
- Holotype was discovered within the Gobi Desert (Nogon-Tsav locality)
- Discovered a partial cranium and three footbones (metatarsals) in Mongolia of Alioramus remotus
- Stephen Brusatte and others described a second species, Alioramus altai, in 2009
- Potential third species, Alioramus sinensis, present in 2014 in China
- Alioramus altai holotype discovered within the Nemegt Formation in Mongolia in a 2001 expedition (Tsaagan Khuushu locality)
- The species identify altai refers back to the Altai mountain vary of southern Mongolia
- Alioramus altai specimen rather more full
- Alioramus altai confirmed that Alioramus was not a juvenile Tarbosaurus (completely different from juvenile Tarbosaurus specimens discovered)
- Alioramus altai specimen was about 9 years outdated
- Had a protracted, slender, decrease jaw, although may very well be a juvenile attribute
- Alioramus remotus cranium was about 18 in (45 cm) lengthy, and was lengthy and low, and the nasal bones had 5 bony crests
- Alioramus altai snout is about 2/3 of the cranium size
- Had a thick nuchal crest, the a part of the cranium the place the neck muscle mass connect (just like Tarbosaurus and Tyrannosaurus)
- Alioramus altai had at the least eight small horns on its face, together with two horns under the eyes and a row on high of the nostril (adults could have had extra ornamentation)
- Unclear why it had crests on its snout
- Alioramus remotus could have additionally had 8 horns on its cranium, however the holotype is simply too fragmentary to know for positive
- Based mostly on the variety of tooth, that have been evenly spaced, and the slim cranium, in all probability didn’t have a robust chunk in comparison with different tyrannosaurs (that had deep, heavy skulls) and will have gone for unarmored prey
- Lived alongside Tarbosaurus (went after several types of prey, often known as area of interest partioning)
- Couldn’t do the “puncture-pull” type of feeding like massive grownup tyrannosaurids (with actually sturdy chunk forces that would crush bone)
- Tarbosaurus had a brief, deep cranium
- Lived in a moist, humid local weather, probably with sauropods, pachycephalosaurs, ankylosaurids, and hadrosaurs
Enjoyable Reality:
A part of the drive towards massive sauropods within the Jurassic could have been due to a “floral turnover” after the Finish-Triassic extinction.