Episode 414: An enormous carcharodontosaur and a tiny titanosaur. Plus proof of a giant dinosaur from an island, a brand new juvenile T. rex specimen, connecting dinosaurs to chocolate, and way more
Information:
- New “big theropod materials” could also be a 3rd carcharodontosaurid in Cretaceous Morocco or extra assist for the dinosaur Sauroniops supply
- There’s a brand new titanosaur, Ibirania, which regarded like different sauropods though smaller—regardless of not being on an island supply
- A brand new massopodan sauropodomorph Tuebingosaurus maierfritzorum has been named from Germany supply
- A brand new juvenile T. rex was just lately fund and is on show in Colorado supply
- A brand new research reveals that many dinosaurs had been endothermic (“heat blooded”), whereas others had been ectothermic (“chilly blooded”) supply
- Shortly earlier than hatching, a chicken’s pelvis seems to be the identical as a dinosaur’s pelvis supply
- Not all dinosaurs that lived on islands might have been small supply
- Scientists recognized the primary file of dinosaur tracks in what’s now Palestine and revealed a pleasant set of standards for figuring out tracks supply
- There’s at the least 38 trackways and greater than 350 dinosaur footprints on the TY tracksite in southern Africa supply
Sponsors:
The dinosaur of the day: Zanabazar
- Troodontid that lived within the Late Cretaceous in what’s now Mongolia (Nemegt Formation)
- Appeared just like Troodon
- Paleoart reveals massive claws, lengthy tail, S-curved neck, and feathered
- One of many largest troodontids
- Largest identified Asian troodontid
- Estimated to develop as much as 7.5 ft (2.3 m) lengthy and weigh 55 lb (25 kg)
- Cranium was 10.7 in (27.2 cm) lengthy
- Had a big mind in comparison with its physique dimension
- Fossils first present in 1964 as a part of the primary joint Mongolian-Soviet Paleontological Expedition
- Initially named a brand new species, Saurornithoides junior, by Rinchen Barsbold in 1974
- Kind species of Saurornithoides is Saurornithoides mongoliensis
- Reclassified in 2009 as Zanabazar junior by Mark Norell and others
- Zanabazar was the primary religious head of Tibetan Buddhism in Outer Mongolia (lived between 1635 to 1723)
- Henry Osborn named Saurornithoides mongoliensis in 1924, primarily based on a cranium and fragments of the physique
- On the time, Troodon formosus was identified solely from enamel and never acknowledged as a theropod, so Osborn in contrast Saurornithoides with Velociraptor, and instructed “it could show to have avian relationships”
- Zanabazar was referred to Saurornithoides due to similarities (Saurornithoides was the one different well-known troodontid with a cranium), and each being from the Late Cretaceous of Central Asia
- Extra troodontid specimens had been described within the Nineteen Eighties to early 2000s, which is why Zanabazar was re-examined
- Holotype features a almost full cranium and braincase, some tail vertebrae, and proper hindlimb
- Holotype vertebrae are utterly fused, which suggests it most likely was an grownup
- Norell and others did CT scans and located sufficient variations between Saurornithoides junior (Zanabazar) and Saurornithoides mongoliensis. Each had been solely identified from their holotypes
- Norell and others acknowledged this was solely primarily based on two specimens, however each holotypes are adults
- Zanabazar is bigger than Saurornithoides
- Zanabazar cranium is 272 mm (10.7 in) lengthy, and Saurornithoides cranium is 189 mm (7.4 in) lengthy
- Zanabazar has extra enamel than Saurornithoides (118 in comparison with 108), the braincase seems to be barely totally different, and different particulars
- Numerous similarities with Saurornithoides however could possibly be as a result of the similarities are plesiomorphic (ancestral characters) and shared with different troodontids, together with Troodon formosus
- Two different troodontids have been described that had been discovered within the Nemegt Formation: Borogovia (identified from a partial hind limb) and Tochisaurus (identified from some foot bones). However, Zanabazar doesn’t have these bones preserved, so can’t examine and identified if a few of these dinosaurs are synonymous
- Different dinosaurs that lived across the identical time and place embody tyrannosaurs, ankylosaurs, alvarezsaurs, dromaeosaurs, hadrosaurs, ornithomimosaurs, pachycephalosaurs, sauropods, therizinosaurs
- Different animals that lived across the identical time and place embody amphibians, crocodylomorphs, fish, mammals, pterosaurs, turtles
Enjoyable Reality:
Over 200 animals and different issues have been named after J.R.R. Tolkien and his works.
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