Episode 196 is all about Scelidosaurus, the primary dinosaur described primarily based on a largely full skeleton, and an vital ancestor to Stegosaurus and Ankylosaurus.
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On this episode, we talk about:
Information:
- Over 260 dinosaur tracks (largely sauropodomorph) had been present in southwest China and will present sauropodomorphs swimming supply
- In Alaska, therizinosaur and hadrosaur tracks had been discovered collectively for the primary time supply
- Dinosaur footprints have been discovered for the primary time on the Scottish mainland supply
- A closed mine in Grand Staircase-Escalante Nationwide Monument could reopen, risking injury to dinosaur fossils supply
- The College of Alberta is holding a “Dinosaur Dentistry” occasion on Saturday, September 22 supply
- The Philip J. Currie Dinosaur Museum is searching for volunteers for his or her fossil preparation lab, to assist clear and put together Pachyrhinosaurus fossils supply
- Nationwide Fossil day is developing, October 17 this yr right here’s an inventory of among the occasions scheduled to date supply
- Scotty the T. rex celebrated her birthday on the Discovery Centre in Easton, Saskatchewan, Canada, with a enjoyable mock interview supply
- Mary Anning is getting a statue in Lyme Regis, on the request of a 10-year-old lady supply
- Paleontologist Xing Lida has a science fiction guide out in China, referred to as You Lengthy Ji: Prehistoric Intruder supply
- Earth Science in Cinema on the College of Utah, will discover the connection between storytelling and scientific accuracy in Hollywood supply
- Jurassic Outpost created a visible information to the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park(s) and Jurassic World(s) supply
- Jurassic Park can be in 500 theaters across the U.S. subsequent month to rejoice its twenty fifth anniversary supply
The dinosaur of the day: Scelidosaurus
- Thyreophoran ornithischian that lived within the Jurassic in what’s now England (fossils present in Dorset)
- Identify means “limb lizard” (Greek phrase skelis means “rib of beef”)
- Discovered within the 1850s
- Named by Richard Owen in 1859
- Just one species thought-about legitimate: Scelidosaurus harrisonii
- Richard Owen named Scelidosaurus harrisonii in 1861
- Within the 1850s, James Harrison, who owned a quarry in Dorset, England, discovered fossils. He gave a few of these fossils to Henry Norris, a collected and retired basic surgeon. In 1858, each males despatched some fragments to Richard Owen (together with a left thighbone)
- Owen named Scelidosaurus in an paleontology entry within the Encyclopedia Britannica, although no specimens had but been recognized
- Owen meant to name the dinosaur “hindlimb saurian” however used the Greek phrase “skelis” as an alternative of “skelos” (which implies hindlimb)
- Named due to its robust hindleg
- Harrison despatched extra fossils (knee joint, claw, juvenile specimen, and cranium) to Owen, which Owen described in 1861 (named Scelidosaurus harrisonii)
- Species identify was in honor of Harrison
- That cranium was discovered to be a part of an almost full skeleton, which Owen described in 1863
- Owen didn’t point out a holotype, and in 1888 Richard Lydekker designated hindlimb fragments (decrease a part of femur, higher a part of tibia and fibula, which shaped the knee joint) described in 1861 as the sort specimen (which turned the lectotype). He didn’t say why he selected this as the sort specimen. Nevertheless, in 1968 Bernard Newman discovered that the femur and tibia from a theropod. Newman additionally thought the remainder was from a dinosaur associated to Megalosaurus, and he urged the lectotype be formally rescinded. Alan Jack Charig filed the request for this in 1992, and the Worldwide Fee on Zoological Nomenclature agreed in 1994 and determined a distinct specimen (which included cranium, decrease jaws, and skeleton) could be the neotype. In 1995 that knee joint from the previous lectotype was informally assigned to Merosaurus by Samuel Welles and others, although some scientists assume it was some kind of Coelophysoidea or Neoceratosauria
- The neotype got here from marine deposits of the Charmouth Mudstone Formation, and is sort of full (solely the tip of the snout, the neck base, forelimbs, and tail finish are lacking). Many articulated osteoderms had been discovered. Ronald Croucher ready a lot of the fossils beginning within the Nineteen Sixties. Charig stated in 1992 just one block was left to arrange, however he handed earlier than the outcomes had been revealed. Norman revealed some new particulars in 2004, however there hasn’t been a full trendy description but
- A second partial juvenile was described in 1968 (present in 1959, by James Frederick Jackson)
- One other partial skeleton excavated in 1985
- There are extra undescribed specimens, however they’re in personal collections (together with one thats 7 ft (2 m) lengthy, present in 2000)
- One other species was Scelidosaurus oehleri, described in 1965 by David Jay Simmons, although Simmons described it as Tatisaurus (Spencer G. Lucas reclassified it in 1996 to Scelidosaurus). Nevertheless, this classification was not accepted, so it’s nonetheless thought-about to be Tatisaurus
- Scelidosaurus was one of many earliest full dinosaurs, and probably the most fully identified dinosaur from the British Isles
- Probably the most primitive thyreophorans
- First dinosaur academically described primarily based on a largely full skeleton (earlier than that, most descriptions had been primarily based on remoted bones and fragments)
- Richard Owen thought it was semi-aquatic and ate fish, and will have been ovoviviparous (had eggs that hatched in its physique), which was odd as a result of it was massive and Owen had put ahead the concept that dinosaurs had been quadrupedal and energetic
- Lived on Laurasia
- Medium sized for its time, about 13 ft (4 m) lengthy
- Quadrupedal herbivore, with longer hindlimbs than forelimbs
- Might have been typically bipedal (however largely quadrupedal)
- Toes had been massive and large (had 4 massive toes, and one small toe on every foot)
- Had flat, hoof-shaped claws that curved to the within
- Tail was about half the size of its physique
- Had a small, elongated head, and its snout was flat on prime
- In all probability had a brief beak
- In all probability cropped vegetation with its primitive enamel and had a easy up-and-down jaw motion
- Ate low vegetation
- Might have reared up on hind legs to get leaves off timber, although in all probability not
- Had a big intestine
- Had mild armor, with lengthy horizontal rows of oval scutes on its again and tail, and probably neck (three rows on both sides of its physique), scutes had been completely different sizes, and had 4 rows of huge scutes on the tail
- Didn’t have steady plating, or spikes or a pelvic protect
- Had two rows of huge osteoderms on both sides of its neck
- Hip and tail base had numerous ossified tendons
- Some specimens have osteoderms that appeared thorny or spiky, in addition to small horns on the again of their heads
- Might have had pores and skin ossifications on the cranium and decrease jaws
- David Martill and others in 2000 stated they discovered comfortable tissue in a Scelidosaurus specimen. They present the presence of a layer of pores and skin over the scutes, so the authors urged that basal armored dinosaurs had osteoderms coated in a tricky, keratinous layer of pores and skin
- Osteoderms had been in all probability for protection
- Can see a Scelidosaurus forged on the Dinosaur Discovery Website museum in St. George Utah. In 2011, native resident Virginius Dabney coated a lot of the price ($7,000) for the reproduction, as a result of his 9 grandkids urged him to. The dinosaur is called the “Dabney Scelidosaurus reproduction”
Enjoyable Truth:
The toes of the hadrosaurs from the herd trackway not too long ago described in Alaska roughly vary in measurement from a US toddler measurement 2 to a Males’s measurement 54
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