Episode 267 is all about Melanorosaurus, the Triassic “Black Mountain Lizard” sauropodomorph from South Africa.
We additionally interview Tom Wealthy and Patricia Vickers-Wealthy, two extremely achieved paleontologists in Melbourne, Australia. They’ve labored collectively on numerous initiatives. Most significantly to dinosaur followers, they named Leaellynasaura, Timimus, Atlascopcosaurus, and others from the Victoria coast. Here’s a PDF on the Dinosaur Dreaming challenge that led to many discoveries. Checkout Prime Sci to see their work with science schooling. And in the event you’re within the space, take a look at the Singapore Science Centre or the Melbourne Museum. When you’re not close to both, you may see our video of the Melbourne Museum right here.
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On this episode, we focus on:
Information:
- The brand new allosauroid, Asfaltovenator, was described from Jurassic Argentina supply
- Ten new polar dinosaur feathers had been described from Australia supply
- Coffs Harbour Butterfly Home in New South Wales, Australia, has opened their dinosaur forest supply
- In Reno, Nevada, you may go to Jurassic Empire on Jan 11 and 12. supply
- In Cardiff, Wales, you may have a sleepover with Dippy the Diplodocus whereas he’s visiting on Saturday January 25 supply
The dinosaur of the day: Melanorosaurus
- Sauropodomorph that lived within the Late Triassic in what’s now South Africa (Elliot Formation)
- Most likely herbivore
- Had 4 enamel on either side of the premaxilla and 19 enamel on either side of the maxilla
- Quadrupedal, with sturdy limbs like a sauropod and a big physique
- Estimated to be about 26 ft (8 m) lengthy and weigh 1.3 tons
- Most likely a facultative biped, which implies it might stroll or run on two legs, however usually used 4
- Had a considerably pointed snout
- Had a triangular cranium
- Kind species: Melanorosaurus readi
- Discovered on the north slope of the Thaba ‘Nyama (Black Mountain) in Jap Cape and Free State Provinces, South Africa
- Genus title means “Black Mountain Lizard”
- Described in 1924 by Sidney Haughton
- Used to have a second species: Melanorosaurus thabensis, named in 1993 by François-Xavier Gauffre primarily based on a femur discovered within the Elliot Formation of Lesotho in 1959. In 2016, a examine discovered that femur and different bones had been really a brand new sort of dinosaur, Meroktenos thabanensis
- Synonym is Roccosaurus tetrascralis, named in 1984 by Van Herdeen and others, however now thought-about to be a nomen nudum (not a lot data on it)
- Haughton wrote in 1924, “The bones include a tibia, a fibula, a part of the pelvis, some vertebrae and metatarsals, along with a femur mendacity partly embedded within the overlying sandstone and the proximal half of a humerus discovered weathered down the slope. They’re within the assortment of the South African Museum (Cat. Nos. 3449, 3450).”
- In 1979 Van Heerden analyzed the sort materials and assigned most of it to Euskelosaurus, apart from a sacral, tibia, and femur
- In 1997 Van Heerden and Peter Galton referred one other specimen to Melanorosaurus readi primarily based on the femurs being comparable
- In 2005, Galton, Van Heerden, and Yates mentioned that many extra bones, largely of Plateosauravus had been assigned to Melanorosaurus since 1924
- Additionally they referred a brand new specimen to Melanorosaurus readi, and mentioned the dinosaurs was a “Sauropodomorpha incertae sedis pending additional evaluation of the holotype and of all of the referred specimens”
- In 2007, Yates revised analysis of among the specimens, however not the sort specimens (there have been two, this is named a syntype)
- Yates additionally described a referred cranium
- Some uncertainty round Melanorosaurus now, because the syntype specimens haven’t been studied shortly, and must be reexamined to determine diagnostic options, and the best way scientists consider Melanorosaurus now could be primarily based on referred specimens
- However among the referred specimens are not directly referred (they’re referred primarily based on a referred specimen), so it appears Melanorosaurus normally must be reexamined
- Syntype (each specimens) are housed in Cape City and the referred specimens saved on the Nationwide Museum of Bloemfontein in South Africa
Enjoyable Truth:
Benjamin Kear, Tom Wealthy, Patricia Vickers-Wealthy, and others described the primary identifiable dinosaurs present in Saudi Arabia.
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