Episode 47 is all about Megalosaurus, a carnivore and one of many three dinosaurs to comprise the unique group Dinosauria.
Additionally, thanks once more to our Patreon supporters! We respect you a lot! For those who take pleasure in our free weekly podcast and are all for studying extra about I Know Dino on Patreon, then please try our Patreon web page at:
https://www.patreon.com/iknowdino
You may take heed to our free podcast, with all our episodes, on iTunes at:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/i-know-dino/id960976813?mt=2
On this episode, we focus on:
- The dinosaur of the day: Megalosaurus, whose identify means “Nice Lizard”
- Comes from the late Center Jurassic of Oxfordshire, England, although fossils from different areas have additionally been referred to as Megalosaurus
- One Megalosaurus bone, the decrease a part of a femur, was present in 1676 and described by Robert Plot, a chemistry professor on the College of Oxford and first curator of the Ashmolean Museum, because the thighbone of a Roman battle elephant, however later thought it got here from a large human (as talked about in Bible); bone is misplaced, however the illustration was so detailed it’s been recognized as Megalosaurus
- Plot revealed an outline and illustration (first illustration of a dinosaur revealed)
- The primary scientific identify was from the 1700s, by Richard Brookes, who referred to as it Scrotum humanum (not a legitimate identify now)
- First non-avian dinosaur to be validly named, named in 1824
- Sort species is Megalosaurus bucklandii, named in 1827
- In 1815, John Kidd reported on the discover of bones in on the Stonesfield quarry, the place the Megalosaurus femur was discovered, of large tetrapods, which William Buckland, professor of geology on the College of Oxford and dean of Christ Church, acquired
- Buckland was an fascinating fellow, who apparently had a pet bear he favored to decorate in educational robes, he had a desk made with dinosaur droppings that individuals admired with out realizing what they have been, and he favored to eat no matter he may attempt, together with panthers, crocodiles and toasted mice (he stated mole and blue-bottle fly tasted the worst)
- French comparative anatomist Georges Cuvier visited Buckland in 1818 and stated they got here from a large lizard-like creature
- Buckland and his buddy William Conybeare studied the fossils and Conybeare stated they have been from a “Enormous Lizard” (1821)
- In 1822 James Parkinson, a doctor, introduced the identify Megalosaurus and illustrated one of many enamel (stated it was 40 ft lengthy and eight ft tall)
- Buckland saved learning Megalosaurus in 1823, and his spouse Mary Morland drew the bones (foundation for illustrating lithographies); Buckland formally introduced Megalosaurus in 1824
- William Buckland formally described the primary dinosaur in his paper “Discover on the Megalosaurusor nice Fossil Lizard of Stonesfield”, revealed in 1824 within the Geological Society of London
- Buckland didn’t present a selected identify (frequent within the early nineteenth century–genus was extra vital than species identify)
- On the time, there have been orthodox Christians who had an issue with the existence of Megalosaurus (held that struggling and loss of life solely got here from Authentic Sin, which didn’t make sense with a carnivorous creature that lived earlier than people); some folks stated Megalosaurus was initially a peaceable vegetarian, however Buckland stated it helped finish animal struggling by preying on previous and sick animals
- Ferdinand von Ritgengave named the species Megalosaurus conybeari in 1826, however not many individuals used that identify
- In 1827, Gideon Mantell named it Megalosaurus bucklandii
- Buckland thought Megalosaurus was quadrupedal and an amphibian that regarded like a large lizard (although he did perceive primarily based on the thighbone that it will have been extra upright than sprawled)
- The concept that Megalosaurus and carnivorous dinosaurs on the whole have been quadrupedal was challenged in 1859 with Compsognathus, after which in 1870 with Eustreptospondylus; after, John Philips made the primary show of a theropod skeleton in Oxford, arranging Megalosaurus bones as bipedal
- Megalosaurus and two different genera have been used to call Dinosauria in 1842 (by Richard Owen)
- The opposite two dinosaurs that impressed Dinosauria have been Iguanodon and Hylaeosaurus
- Owen directed a mannequin made for the Crystal Palace
- Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins was commissioned to construct Megalosaurus in 1852 for the Crystal Palace Park; it had a hump on the shoulders and the mannequin helped the general public in England bear in mind that historical reptiles lived
- For a very long time after being found, Megalosaurus was seen as the everyday giant carnivorous dinosaur, and it grew to become a wastebasket taxon (a lot of dinosaurs assigned the genus, however that modified within the twentieth century, when scientists began limiting Megalosaurus to fossils present in England, from the Jurassic interval
- Any fossils discovered that weren’t sufficient to call a brand new genus (often of single enamel), have been labeled as Megalosaurus; at one level had probably the most species of any non-avian dinosaur genus (a lot of them have been re-classified)
- Examples of the wastebasket taxon getting used (all primarily based on a single tooth) embrace Megalosaurus cloacinus, Megalosaurus insignis, Megalosaurus meriani
- Dinosaurs that have been initially Megalosaurus embrace Duriavenator, Eustreptospondylus, Magnosaurus, Metriacanthosaurus, Dilophosaurus, Carcharodontosaurus
- Numerous different examples too
- Greater than 50 species have been labeled underneath the genus Megalosaurus, when dinosaurs weren’t well-known, and even within the twentieth century when extra was recognized
- Megalosaurus has a variety of synonyms, principally due to the best way it was spelled in papers. In 1913, one writer added a “u” and made the synonym Megalousaurus; in 1926 one other paper misspelled Megalosaurus 4 instances, creating 4 new synonyms “Megalasaurus,” “Megolosaurus,” Megalosaurns” and “Magalosausus”; this occurred once more in 1964, when the “g” was by chance changed with a “q” to make “Meqalosaurus”
- Ronan Allain and Dan Chure stated within the late twentieth/early21st century that the fossils present in the identical quarry as Megalosaurus could also be a number of varieties of dinosaurs. Some researchers stated there have been no distinguishing traits between Megalosaurus and different family members, making Megalosaurus a nomen dubium, however in 2008 Roger Benson and colleagues analyzed Megalosaurus and recognized distinguishing traits within the decrease jaw
- Traits embrace a large longitudinal groove on the outer floor on the dentary, the third tooth socket not being enlarged, tall interdental plates that reinforce the enamel
- No full skeletons have been discovered, however Benson revealed an in depth research of recognized bones in 2010
- No full skeleton has been discovered of Megalosaurus
- First researchers thought Megalosaurus was a large lizard 20 m lengthy; Richard Personal in 1842 stated it was 9 m lengthy and was quadrupedal; these days considered 23 ft or 7 m lengthy, weighing 1.1 tonnes, bipedal with an extended tail for stability
- As much as 30 ft lengthy (9m), 10 ft (3 m ) tall, weighed about 1 ton
- Additionally brief forelimbs, giant head, a lot of muscle, and lengthy curved enamel
- Bipedal, lengthy tail, lengthy hindlimbs with three forward-facing toes, brief forelimbs with three digits every
- Massive, lengthy head with dagger like enamel
- Not a lot recognized concerning the cranium, however decrease jaw was most likely slim
- Most likely apex predator
- Might have hunted stegosaurs and sauropods (early descriptions have it looking Iguanodon, although Iguanodon really lived a lot later)
- Might have killed sauropods, could have been a scavenger
- Bleak Home, Charles Dicken’s serial novel revealed between 1852 and 1853 is without doubt one of the first dinosaur references in literature. He wrote “As a lot mud within the streets as if the waters had however newly retired from the face of the earth, and it will not be fantastic to fulfill a Megalosaurus, forty toes lengthy or so, waddling like an elephantine lizard up Holborn Hill.”
- Buckland’s son, Franklin Trevelyan Buckland got here up with the concept that dinosaurs gave rise to dragon myths
- Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins’ Megalosaurus continues to be round (although the glasshouse burned down in 1936)
- Across the identical time Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins constructed the Megalosaurus statue, Edouard Riou drew the well-known picture of Megalosaurus and Iguanodon in a vicious battle (very inaccurate, esp. since Iguanodon was an herbivore)
- Earl Sinclair from the TV present Dinosaurs is a Megalosaurus
- Megalosaurus was a theropod and a tetanuran
- Tenanurae means “stiff tails” and is a clade that features extra theropods
- Appeared within the early or center Jurassic
- Clade was named in 1986 by Jacques Gauthier
- Contains all theropods extra carefully associated to fashionable birds than Ceratosaurus
- Enjoyable Reality: The paper that described the holotype of Tyrannosaurus rex additionally described one other dinosaur referred to as Dynamosaurus imperiosus, which have been later decided to be the identical species. T-rex was written earlier within the paper making it the official identify of the species, in any other case we’d be strolling round saying D-imperiosus