I Know Dino Podcast Present Notes: Sinornithosaurus (Episode 244)

Episode 244 is all about Sinornithosaurus, an early raptor from China that was coated in feathers.

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On this episode, we focus on:

Information:

A brand new census of the Lance & Hell Creek Formations discovered no less than 71 T. rex skulls & skeletons supply (pdf)
A database of over 3,000 sauropod specimens from the Morrison Formation has been printed supply
Damaged ribs, toes, and a bone an infection have been present in an unlucky Tenontosaurus supply

A helitack crew in Colorado picked up “Walter” in two plaster jackets that weighed over 1,000 kilos every supply
A brand new dinosaur museum opened up in Wolcott, Colorado supply
On September 15, animatronic dinosaurs are going to be on the Tub Racecourse within the UK supply

Springs Protect in Las Vegas has a brand new exhibit referred to as Dino Would possibly supply
The Science Museum of Minnesota just lately completed their first Dino Fest supply
Two Chinese language paleontologists have made a whole rendering of the bipedal Auroraceratops supply

The dinosaur of the day: Sinornithosaurus

Dromaeosaurid that lived within the Early Cretaceous in what’s now Liaoning, China (Yixian Formation)
Basal dromaeosaur

Helps present that earlier dromaeosaurs have been extra like birds than later dromaeosaurs
Small, about 3 ft (1 m) lengthy, although Gregory Paul estimated it to be 3.9 ft (1.2 m) lengthy and weigh 6.6 lb (3 kg)
Had feathers, much like Archaeopteryx

Preserved impressions of feathers discovered on the entire physique and forming the wings (feathers regarded the identical as feathers discovered on birds from the identical space)
Had two varieties of feathers, one sort like fashionable down feathers and one time like fashionable chicken feathers, although they regarded a bit of completely different from flight feathers (no steady vane)
Had completely different coloured feathers round its physique. A 2012 examine discovered they have been reddish-brown, yellow, black, and gray

Might have been in a position to glide brief distances after leaping from bushes
In 2018 McNamara and others analyzed the fossilized pores and skin of Beipiaosaurus, Sinornithosaurus, Microraptor, and Confuciusornis. They used electron microscopes to check their fossilized dandruff
Helps present how dinosaurs shed their pores and skin

They discovered it to be practically the identical as to dandruff in fashionable birds
Sinornithosaurus shed pores and skin in flakes, like fashionable birds and mammals (didn’t shed without delay like a lizard or different reptiles)
Discovered that feathered pores and skin had developed many (not all) fashionable attributes by the point maniraptorans took place within the Center Jurassic

Reveals proof that early birds and dinosaurs have been evolving pores and skin in response to having feathers (the fossilized dandruff is manufactured from corneocyte cells, which when alive are dry and filled with keratin (fashionable birds have fatty corneocytes with loosely packed keratin to assist them settle down shortly when flying for lengthy intervals of time)
The fossilized pores and skin had packed keratin which can imply the dinosaurs didn’t get as heat as fashionable birds, presumably as a result of they both couldn’t fly or couldn’t fly for lengthy intervals of time
Carnivorous, most likely ate small animals

Had a sickle-shaped toe claw
Might have been cathemeral (lively all through the day and night time in brief spurts)
Described in 1999 by Xu Xing and others (discovered an virtually full fossil with feather impressions)

Kind species is Sinornithosaurus millenii (title means “millennium Chinese language chicken lizard”)
Second species is Sinornithosaurus haoiana (“Hao’s Chinese language chicken lizard”), described in 2004 by Liu and others primarily based on a second specimen discovered that had completely different cranium and hip options
Nevertheless, Turner, Makovicky, and Norell in 2012 advised that Sinornithosaurus haoiana was a junior synonym of Sinornithosaurus millenii

One other specimen, nicknamed “Dave” was described in 2001 however not named. Ji and others formally referred “Dave” to Sinornithosaurus in 2002 however stated it might be questionable. Stephen Czerkas and others stated they thought “Dave” was a specimen of Cryptovolans pauli (now thought-about to be Microraptor gui). Then in 2011 Senter stated the holotype of Sinornithosaurus was much like “Dave” and that “Dave” was a Sinornithosaurus millenii
A 2012 paper by Turner, Makovicky, and Norell agreed, and located “Dave” to be a subadult Sinornithosaurus millenii
Holotype is on the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology in Beijing, China

In 2009, Empu Gong and others advised that Sinornithosaurus was venomous, primarily based on its cranium. They discovered it had lengthy and fang-like maxillary tooth with outstanding grooves (lengthy tooth, as seen in venomous animals akin to snakes, and the grooves supplied a channel for the venom, and so they stated the cavity within the jaw bone above these tooth might have been for a venom gland. Due to this, in addition they advised Sinornithosaurus hunted small prey, akin to birds, and used its fangs to stun the prey (chunk and maintain)
Thought it had a low chunk pressure and used fangs to puncture by feathers, inject venom, and shock its prey. Additionally the tooth on the entrance of the snout angled ahead, which can have been used to pluck feathers
In 2010, Federico Gianechini and others advised that Sinornithosaurus was not venomous, as a result of the grooved tooth aren’t distinctive to Sinornithosaurus (seen in different theropods, together with different dromaeosaurids), and that the tooth weren’t so long as Gong and others thought they have been, however that they’d come out of their sockets so that they appeared longer. Additionally, they couldn’t discover the cavity that supposedly held the venom gland. They solely discovered regular sinus cavities

On the similar time, Gong and his crew printed a reassessment of Gianechini and his crew’s examine. They stated that although grooved tooth are widespread in theropods (principally feathered maniraptorans), they hyopthesized venom was presumably a primitive trait for all archosaurs and stayed in some lineages. Additionally they didn’t assume the tooth have been out of their sockets, although they stated they weren’t completely of their pure place (they stated some undescribed specimens had full articulated tooth that have been equally lengthy)
Consensus appears to be that there isn’t any clear proof that it was venomous (want extra detailed proof)

Enjoyable Truth:
Deposits of the Newest Cretaceous (AKA Maastrichtian) go by many names—for good motive.

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