Episode 465: Sauropodfest! 6 embryos and three adults from a brand new sauropodomorph; a brand new titanosauriform; and why sauropod necks are a lot longer than giraffes.
Information:
- A brand new sauropod species, Qianlong shouhu, was discovered with three adults and 5 clutches of eggs—together with six embryos supply
- There’s a brand new titanosauriform, Garumbatitan morellensis supply
- A “coliseum” of over 1700 dinosaur tracks present a large variety of dinosaurs in Late Cretaceous Alaska supply
- Dinosaur eggshells present in North-eastern Russia present clues as to how polar dinosaurs lived and reproduced supply
- The Royal Tyrrell Museum now has probably the most full Triceratops cranium from Canada on show supply
- Chomper, a juvenile T. rex, is anticipated to promote for $20 million supply
The dinosaur of the day: Paludititan
- Titanosaur that lived within the Late Cretaceous in what’s now Romania (Sânpetru Formation)
- Talked about in episode 400, with the Ha?eg dinosaurs
- As a titanosaur, walked on 4 legs, had an extended neck, lengthy tail
- Some paleoart depicts it with a stout neck
- Comparatively small, estimated to be about 20 ft (6 m) lengthy and weighing 1.1 tons
- Fossils present in 2002 throughout a Belgian-Romanian expedition
- Discovered a partial skeleton in floodplain deposits
- On the time, was probably the most full sauropod present in Romania
- Named and described in 2010 by Zoltán Csiki and others
- Sort species is Paludititan nalatzensis
- Genus title means “marsh titan”
- Species title refers to the place the fossils have been discovered, at Nala?-Vad
- Holotype is a partial skeleton and not using a cranium, and consists of vertebrae, a part of the tail, a part of the pelvis, a part of the thighbone, and two toe claws
- On the time, thought it may very well be a specimen of Magyarosaurus (one other titanosaur that lived across the identical time and place), however didn’t have any shared distinguishing options and the fossils have been present in a distinct location
- Distinctive options in particulars of the vertebrae, neural spines, and pelvis
- Second titanosaur described from the Hateg Basin, after Magyarosaurus
- Each Paludititan and Magyarosaurus are lithostrotians, derived titanosaurs that lived within the Early to Late Cretaceous. Lots of them had osteoderms (however not all of them)
- A 2022 examine of titanosaur tails discovered there could also be 4 completely different sauropods in Ha?eg Island (Paludititan, Magyarosaurus, “Magyarosaurus hungaricus” and an unnamed species)
- A number of the vertebrae indicated there have been medium-sized sauropods, in order that they wouldn’t be thought of island dwarfs (which might present extra complexity in how these sauropods advanced)
- A 2012 examine examined egg clutches from the Hateg Basin, present in the identical formation as Paludititan
- Discovered 11 clutches, of 40 eggs in complete, all regarded as from the identical dinosaur species
- Clutches averaged 4 eggs every, practically 5 in (about 12 cm) in diameter
- Different sauropod egg websites discovered have about 15 eggs per clutch
- Not having too many eggs in a single clutch could also be a part of the island impact, or adapting to the smaller physique dimension because of the island impact
- As a substitute of laying smaller eggs, had fewer eggs
- Unclear which species these eggs belonged too, although the Hateg Basin was a significant nesting web site for dinosaurs within the Late Cretaceous
- Eggs and eggshells seemed just like nemegtosaurid eggs present in Patagonia, Argentina
- Appears to be from a nemegtosaurid (Magyarosaurus is a nemegtosaurid, thought to have osteoderms)
- Discovered millimeter-sized embryonic integument with dermal papillae (dome-shaped options just like the beginnings of osteoderms on very small piece of pores and skin, seems just like dermal papillae in fashionable crocodilians at an identical age). Embryo appears to have died earlier than forming bones, nevertheless
- Different animals that lived across the identical time and place embody the sauropod Magyarosaurus, the hadrosaur Telmatosaurus, the iguanodont Zalmoxes, the nodosaurid Struthiosaurus, and the apex predator, the pterosaur Hatzegopteryx
Enjoyable Reality:
Giraffes have limitations on their neck lengths, which is why they will’t compete with sauropods
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