I Know Dino Podcast Herrerasaurus

Episode 27 is all about Herrerasaurus, one of many earliest recognized dinosaurs.

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Herrerasaurus, on show on the Royal Ontario Museum

On this episode, we talk about:

The dinosaur of the day: Herrerasaurus ischigualastensis, whose identify meas “Herrera’s lizard”, after the native rancher who found it

Don Victorino Herrera, a neighborhood rancher, discovered the primary Herrerasaurus fossil in 1958, within the schigualasto Formation of northwestern Argentina
Researchers discovered three partial skeletons
Osvaldo A. Reig named Herrerasaurus in 1963

Harvard paleontologist Alfred Romer additionally discovered a partial Herrerasurus within the late Fifties, however native authorities impounded them in Buenos Aires for two years till Harvard claimed them
Lived in Triassic, about 235-230 million years in the past
One of many earliest dinosaurs; early archosaur

Though Herrerasaurus is without doubt one of the earliest dinosaurs, researchers might have found the earliest dinosaur in 2012 (Nyasaurus parringtoni, a dinosaur that lived 10 million years earlier than Herrerasaurus, that was the dimensions of a Labrador retriever, with a 5-foot lengthy tail). The researchers are from UC Berkeley although they are saying they’re cautious about calling it the earliest dinosaur. Nysasaurus was excavated within the Thirties in Tanzania, and researchers lately discovered bone cells and blood vessels within the bones
Controversy over what to categorise Herrerasaurus: as sister to dinosaurs, as saurischian or as a theropod
Redescribed within the Journal of Vertebrae Paleontology years later based mostly on new fossils discovered by Paul Sereno of the College of Chicago (discovered the cranium in 1988)

Cranium is much like different Archosauriformes, like Euparkeria
Didn’t discover the primary cranium till 1988 (Sereno and his crew thought the brand new materials made Herrerasaurus a theropod, however others thought it was one thing else)
Typically categorized as basal theropod, generally as carnivorous saurischian, or generally even earlier within the evolutionary tree

Herrerasaurus had an uncommon pelvis (lacks a bone within the middle of the hip socket, a key attribute of dinosaurs
Herrersaurus is now often thought of a basal theropod (meat consuming)
A brand new early theropod, Tawa, was found in 2009. Tawa put to relaxation debate about whether or not or not Herrerasaurus was truly an early theropod or another sort of animal (Herrerasaurus had massive claws and enamel like theropods, however didn’t have airsac pockets in its vertebrae, which was uncommon for a theropod

Tawa was much like Herrarsaurus (had related pelvis) in addition to airsac pockets within the spine, as seen in different theropods. This confirmed that Herrerasaurus was a theropod as a result of it’s uncommon traits weren’t distinctive
Categorizing Herrerasaurus as a theropod reveals that dinosaurs shortly advanced into three lineages (sauropods, ornithischians, and theropods) and that every one three have been in South America, the place Herrersaurus was discovered, as quickly as dinosaurs appeared
Synonyms for Herrerasaurus sort species are Ischisaurus and Frenguellisaurus

One massive Herrersaurus specimen was first considered a brand new genus, Frenguellisaurus (named in 1986 by Fernando Novas). In 1992 Novas and Paul Sereno reclassified
Herrerasaurus was 13 ft (3.9 m) lengthy, 4 ft (1.1 m) tall on the hips, and weighed 460 kilos (210 kg)
Might have been cathemeral (energetic by way of day briefly intervals)

Bipedal, with lengthy legs, lengthy tail
Was most likely fast and agile (made it straightforward to catch animals scared out of hiding)
Had a proportionately quick femur and lengthy decrease leg bones, and walked on its toes to increase the size of its leg, and its pubis pointed backwards (seen in birds) so was most likely agile and really quick

Small head, lengthy slender cranium
Herrerasaurus‘ wrist and decrease arm resembles fashionable birds (forelimbs might fold up like a pigeon’s) and will have had feathers
Brief arms and sharp claws, and sharp enamel

Most likely hunted small reptiles and smaller dinosaurs
Blade formed enamel with knife like serrations
Discovered small bones in Herrersaurus corprolites, which means they might digest bone

Herrerasaurus has a sliding decrease jaw (additionally seen in different reptiles); might have raked its enamel by way of prey or held small prey in its jaws
Herrersaurus had a physique formed like massive carnivores (equivalent to Allosaurus) however lived in a time when dinosaurs have been small and in no way dominant
Though it was massive, Herrerasaurus was most likely not the highest predator in its habitat

Lived amongst greater predators, like the enormous crocodile relative Saurosuchus, and Fasolasuchus tenax, largest meat-eater in Argentina on the time
Herrersaurus was most likely the most typical carnivore within the Ischigualasto Formation
Ischigualasto Formation was a volcanically energetic floodplain with forests and powerful seasonal rainfalls; moist, heat local weather; vegetation contains ferms, horsetails, and big conifers, which shaped forests alongside the banks of rivers

Herrersaurids are a few of the oldest recognized dinosaurs (lived in Late Triassic; extinct by finish of Triassic)
They have been small and carnivorous
Fossils present in North and South America, and will have additionally lived on different continents

Herrerasaurids have uncommon anatomy with primitive and derived traits
Herrerisauridae household has two different genera (Staurikosaurus from Brazil and Sanjuansaurus from Argentina)
Enjoyable reality: The phrase “dinosaur” means “horrible lizard.” Nevertheless, the Greek phrase “dinos” additionally means “wondrous. So Sir Richard Owen, who named dinosaurs, might have meant they have been wonderous, and never horrible, creatures.

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