Episode 321 is all about Pantydraco, a sauropodomorph that isn’t pronounced how you’ll anticipate, it’s Welsh.
We additionally interview Tara Cooper & Terry O’Neill. Tara is an artist and professor of wonderful arts on the College of Waterloo. Terry labored within the CBC documentary unit for 15 years, these days he makes impartial docs. They collaborated on the model new documentary Observe the Bones about Pachyrhinosaurus lakustai and the folks behind the invention.
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On this episode, we focus on:
Information:
- A brand new ornithopod, Riabininohadros, was described from Crimea supply
- Sinankylosaurus, the “Chinese language Ankylosaurus” was formally described supply
- A brand new theropod dinosaur from Mukawa, Hokkaido, Japan will possible be named quickly supply
- In Fujian, China paleontologists have discovered over 240 fossilized dinosaur footprints possible together with sauropods, theropods, & ornithopods supply
- In response to Scientific American since 1824, 10,851 dinosaur fossils (about 1,000 species) have been documented supply
- The Nationwide Museum of Niger is planning on increasing and refurbishing subsequent yr supply
- The designs for the Mary Anning statue in Lyme Regis have been launched supply
- Myles Garrett celebrated his birthday with a Spinosaurus cake supply
The dinosaur of the day: Pantydraco
- Basal sauropodomorph that lived within the Late Triassic in what’s now Wales (Vale of Glamorgan)
- Descriptions based mostly on a number of people
- Holotype cranium was fairly crushed and disarticulated
- Gracile
- Had a protracted neck
- Had a protracted tail, that was broad on the hip
- Tail tapered on the finish
- Estimated to be 9 to 10 ft (3 m) lengthy as an grownup
- Estimated to weigh about 110 lb (50 kg)
- Others estimate it to be 4.9 ft (1.5 m) lengthy
- For the smaller estimates, the pondering is the estimate relies on the person not being a juvenile however being an island dwarf (partly based mostly on a research of the fauna and discovering the habitat might not have been in a position to help a lot bigger herbivores)
- Nonetheless, Peter Galton and Kenneth Kermack mentioned the specimen had indicators of being a juvenile, like cranium bones not absolutely fused, a slender type, a head too giant for its neck, and a brief, excessive snout, and a low tooth depend
- Nasal bones are fused, which is uncommon for juveniles, and could also be a definite attribute of Pantydraco
- Skeletal reconstructions can present it being both extra bipedal or extra quadrupedal, relying on whether or not the again a part of the physique is enlarged or to not match the scale of the entrance a part of the physique (Kenneth Kermack had it extra bipedal in 1984 and Adam Yates had it extra quadrupedal in 2003)
- Forelimbs had been shorter than hindlimbs
- May grasp with its forelimbs
- Had a pointed head
- Had a big thumb claw, might have been for protection or to collect meals
- In all probability omnivorous
- Had a robust jaw
- Had triangular tooth
- Kind and solely species is Pantydraco caducus
- Partial juvenile skeleton discovered
- Specimen was present in 1952 by Kenneth Kermack and Pamela Robinson, in an underground limestone cave fissure
- Adam Yates initially named it Thecodontosaurus caducus in 2003, based mostly on specimen BMNH P 24 (cranium, partial jawbone, vertebrae, incomplete proper pelvic bone, partial forelimbs)
- Peter Galton, Adam Yates, and Kenneth Kermack named it Pantydraco in 2007
- Genus title after the Pant-y-ffynnon quarry the place it was discovered. Pantyffynnon is a small village, and the quarry is on the base of a mountain between two rivers
- Quarry title means “dry valley”
- Full genus title means “dry valley dragon”
- Species title means “fallen” and refers back to the assumption that the holotype fell right into a fissure (the quarry) and died there
- A number of flash thunderstorms, which regularly drowned smaller animals and washed them into the limestone cracks. Assume that’s what occurred with the juvenile Pantydraco, which obtained swept away (adults would have been too huge to enter the cracks)
- 2007 paper wrote within the etymology: “a superb lizard-like animal”
- Apparently Adam Yates obtained flack for the title Pantydraco. He had wished to name it Cambrambulus (“Welsh wanderer”) however co-author Peter Galton had already recommended Pantydraco
- One of the basal sauropodomorphs identified from Europe, together with Thecodontosaurus antiquus
- Thecodontosaurus was the fourth dinosaur named, and the primary sauropodomorph named
- Thecodontosaurus was described in 1836 and 1840
- In 2020, Antonio Ballell, Emily Rayfield, and Michael Benton wrote that Pantydraco might not be a legitimate taxon and that it is likely to be a juvenile Thecodontosaurus antiquus as an alternative. They in contrast Thecodontosaurus materials discovered at a website in Tytherington, England, and located anatomical similarities, just like the tooth with deep, straight roots, and different similarities within the cranium. In addition they discovered traits that made Pantydraco distinct didn’t apply, just like the medial tuberosity of the humerus (rounded prominence the place the muscle attaches). They mentioned this had been worn away on most Thecodontosaurus and Pantydraco specimens, together with their Tytherington specimen.
- In addition they discovered that phylogenetically Thecodontosaurus and Pantydraco had been constantly thought of to be sister taxon or Pantydraco was discovered to be in a clade that included Thecodontosaurus and extra derived sauropodomorphs. They mentioned this might imply Pantydraco and Thecodontosaurus had been truly in the identical taxon or the one cause Pantydraco was extra basal was due to some characters assigned to it as a result of it was a juvenile
- Greater than 800 animals present in the identical rocks as Pantydraco. Most of them had been small reptiles (solely 2% had been Pantydraco)
- Pantydraco was in all probability one of many largest animals within the space, together with the crocodylomorph Terrestrisuchus
- Lived on small islands that had limestone caves, surrounded by a tropical sea (wetland)
- Probably had frequent forest fires
- Can see Pantydraco fossils at Pure Historical past Museum in Tring, Hertfordshire, UK (presently closed)
Enjoyable Truth: The Chinese language translation of T-rex is 暴龙 (bàolóng) which roughly interprets to “savage dragon.”