DOCSLIB.ORG

For Review Only 22 Postcranial Skeleton of a Small Individual of Scelidosaurus

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
For Review Only 22 Postcranial Skeleton of a Small Individual of Scelidosaurus Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society SCELIDOSAURUS HARRISONII OWEN, 1861 FROM THE EARLY JURASSIC OF DORSET, ENGLAND: PART 1. CRANIAL ANATOMY Journal: Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society Manuscript ID ZOJ-10-2018-3496.R2 Manuscript Type:ForOriginal Review Article Only monograph < Taxonomy, alpha taxonomy < Taxonomy, Reptilia < Taxa, Dinosauria < Taxa, ontogeny < Growth, vertebrate palaeontology < Keywords: Palaeontology, Jurassic < Palaeontology, English South Coast < Geography, mechanical function < Biomechanics, cranial osteology < Anatomy The skull of Scelidosaurus harrisonii is described. Scelidosaurus is an early (late Sinemurian) armoured ornithischian dinosaur from Charmouth, Dorset. It is the first largely complete and articulated dinosaur ever discovered. Much of the exterior of the skull has a textured patina of exostotic bone that anchored keratinous scales. A small edentulous beak precedes a row of five premaxillary teeth, and there would have been a minimum of 22 maxillary teeth and 27 dentary teeth in the largest known individuals. Tooth wear is discontinuous along the dentition and jaw action appears to have been tightly constrained. Abstract: There is no physical evidence of a predentary but its existence is inferred from the structure of the dentary. A sclerotic ring was present. A prominent supraorbital brow ridge overhangs the orbital cavity. A crater- shaped osteoderm is attached to the lateral surface of the postorbital. Paired osteodermal horns project dorsally from the occiput, and long bladed styloid bones project obliquely from the posterior of the skull. The nasal chambers are roofed by epivomers that are unique to this taxon. A vertical, conical epipterygoid is attached to the pterygoid. A deep pit on the posterior surface of the quadrate suggests the existence of remnant cranial pneumatism. Page 1 of 215 Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 1 2 3 4 SCELIDOSAURUS HARRISONII OWEN, 1861 FROM THE EARLY JURASSIC 5 6 OF DORSET, ENGLAND: PART 1. CRANIAL ANATOMY 7 8 9 10 11 12 DEDICATION 13 14 I wish to offer a personal note of thanks to Ron Croucher (former Head of 15 16 the Palaeontological Preparation-Conservation Laboratory at the Natural 17 History Museum, London) by dedicating this monograph to him. Ron 18 19 committed an enormous amount of time and effort, across several 20 21 decades, to the laboriousFor andReview painstaking Onlypreparation of the lectotype 22 skull and postcranial skeleton of Scelidosaurus (NHMUK R1111). His 23 24 having to watch as numerous researchers subsequently mishandled (and 25 26 damaged) some of these bones, hard-won with such skill and dedication, 27 must have severely tested his patience and goodwill. Ron is indeed a 28 29 wonderfully kind and incredibly patient man. While superintending the 30 31 museum laboratory he could always find time to give advice and 32 assistance to ignorant and cack-handed PhD students who, from time to 33 34 time, ‘messed about’ with fossil specimens in his laboratory … I know this 35 36 all too well, I was one of them. 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society Page 2 of 215 1 2 3 4 EXTENDED ABSTRACT 5 6 Scelidosaurus harrisonii Owen, 1861 is an early (late Sinemurian) 7 armoured ornithischian dinosaur whose remains have, to date, only been 8 recovered from a restricted location on the south coast of Dorset 9 (Charmouth), England. This dinosaur has been known since 1859, but 10 only on the basis of a partial description found in two articles published in 11 12 the early 1860s by Richard Owen. The original material, discovered in 13 1858, comprised the majority of the skull and its associated postcranial 14 skeleton, and represents the first ever more or less complete dinosaur 15 discovered. In addition to the original material, a number of further 16 discoveries have been made at Charmouth; these latter supplement the 17 information that can be gleaned from the original specimen. This article 18 describes the skull of Scelidosaurus. 19 20 The external surface of individual skull bones in ontogenetically relatively 21 mature individualsFor displays Review exostoses, a patina Only of fibrous or granular- 22 textured bone that anchored an external shielding of keratinous scales. 23 There is a small, edentulous rostral beak, behind which is found a row of 24 five heterodont premaxillary teeth. There is a minimum of 22 maxillary 25 teeth and 27 dentary teeth in jaws of the largest well-preserved 26 individuals known to date. Both dentitions (upper and lower) are bowed 27 28 medially and are sinuous longitudinally. Maxillary and dentary crowns are 29 tilted lingually on their roots, trapezoidal in outline and have crenellate 30 (coarsely denticulate) margins. Adjacent crowns of teeth have mesio- 31 distally (anteroposteriorly) expanded bases that overlap slightly and are 32 consequently arranged en echelon. The dentitions are flanked by deep 33 cheek pouches. Tooth abrasion is usually discontinuous along the 34 dentition. In one individual nearly all teeth seem to be fully emerged and 35 there is little evidence of abrasion. There is no physical evidence of a 36 37 predentary, but the presence of this (typically ornithischian) element may 38 be inferred from the structure of the symphyseal region of the dentary. 39 The external narial and antorbital fenestrae are comparatively small, 40 whereas the orbit and temporal fenestrae are large and open. A sclerotic 41 ring was undoubtedly present and supported the eyeball, but it is too 42 poorly preserved to allow it to be reconstructed with accuracy. A 43 prominent supraorbital brow ridge overhangs the orbit. There are three 44 osteoderms: palpebral, middle supraorbital and posterior supraorbital, 45 sutured to the dorsal margin of the orbit. The occiput provides an area for 46 47 attachment of a pair of curved, keratin-sheathed, osteodermal horns. 48 Epistyloid bones project from the ventrolateral region of the braincase; 49 their distal ends flank the anterolateral region of the neck. Rugose facets 50 on either side of the basioccipital are suggested to have provided 51 attachment sites for the epistyloid bones. Internally, the skull has a 52 53 deeply vaulted snout and the nasal chambers are roofed by what are here 54 named epivomer bones that appear to have been sutured to the 55 dorsolateral edges of the vomers. Unusually, among dinosaurs generally, 56 an epipterygoid is preserved attached to the dorsolateral surface of the 57 pterygoid; there is no obvious point of articulation for the epipterygoid 58 against the lateral wall of the braincase. There is also a narrow, slot-like 59 pocket on the medial wall of the quadrate wing of the pterygoid. A deep 60 2 Page 3 of 215 Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 1 2 3 pit on the posterior surface of the quadrate of an immature specimen is 4 suggestive of the existence of a remnant of cranial pneumatism; this pit 5 becomes occluded in larger, more mature specimens. 6 7 8 9 NOTE CONCERNING THE LECTOTYPE 10 11 In 1955 Bill (William Elgin) Swinton (1900-1994) approved a programme 12 13 of work for Arthur Rixon, focused upon the acetic acid-mediated 14 15 preparation of a split marlstone (=argillaceous limestone) nodule 16 17 (‘dogger’) that had been collected by J.F. Jackson from the foreshore 18 beneath Black Ven, Charmouth and acquired by the Natural History 19 20 Museum (London). The dogger contained an incomplete articulated 21 For Review Only 22 postcranial skeleton of a small individual of Scelidosaurus. Rixon (1949) 23 had experimented with the use of dilute mineral acids to prepare fossil 24 25 vertebrates and with Harry Toombs (Toombs & Rixon 1950) had 26 27 developed the ‘Transfer Method’ for preparing such fossils in the round 28 (Toombs & Rixon 1959). The scelidosaur project resulted in the successful 29 30 extraction of this small dinosaur skeleton (Rixon 1968) and the 31 32 development of further plans to prepare the lectotype skeleton; these 33 plans were however abandoned after the departure of Swinton. 34 35 Alan Charig (1927-1997) was appointed curator in succession to Bill 36 37 Swinton in 1961. He eventually revisited Swinton’s original project, in the 38 39 light of the success of the technique applied to the small scelidosaur 40 skeleton, and so the extraction of the entire skeleton of the lectotype of 41 42 Scelidosaurus harrisonii (NHMUK R1111) began, under the supervision of 43 44 Ron Croucher. The latter skeleton was preserved in a more-or-less 45 contiguous series of substantial marlstone blocks. As the work continued 46 47 Croucher noticed the fragility of some of the acid-extracted bones and 48 49 modified the original preparation protocol by adding a phosphate buffer to 50 the acid solution. This latter modification reduced the extent of acid- 51 52 induced erosion of the fabric of the fossil bones (and their consequent 53 54 extreme fragility) that has seriously jeopardised the earlier extracted 55 bones – in particular the skull. Charig announced his intention to describe 56 57 Scelidosaurus but he had made little progress by the time of his death. 58 59 60 3 Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society Page 4 of 215 1 2 3 REPOSITORY ABBREVIATIONS: BRSMG - Bristol City Museum UK, CAMSM 4 5 – Sedgwick Museum, University of Cambridge UK; DORCM - Dorset 6 7 County Museum, Dorchester, Dorset UK; FMNH – Field Museum of Natural 8 History, Chicago USA; IVPP – Institute of Vertebrate Palaeontology and 9 10 Palaeoanthropology, Beijing, China; LYMPH – The Lyme Regis (Philpot) 11 12 Museum, Dorset UK; NHMUK – Natural History Museum, London British 13 Museum; MNA – Museum of Northern Arizona, Flagstaff USA; SGDS – St 14 15 George Dinosaur Discovery Site, Utah USA; SGWG – Sektion Geologische 16 17 Wissenshaften der Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-Universität Griefswald, Germany; 18 TMM – Texas Memorial Museum (Vertebrate Paleontology Laboratory of 19 20 the University of Texas at Austin), USA; UCMP – University of California 21 For Review Only 22 Museum of Paleontology, Berkeley, USA; ZDM – Zigong Dinosaur 23 Museum, Zigong, China.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • A Neoceratopsian Dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous of Mongolia And
    ARTICLE https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-020-01222-7 OPEN A neoceratopsian dinosaur from the early Cretaceous of Mongolia and the early evolution of ceratopsia ✉ Congyu Yu 1 , Albert Prieto-Marquez2, Tsogtbaatar Chinzorig 3,4, Zorigt Badamkhatan4,5 & Mark Norell1 1234567890():,; Ceratopsia is a diverse dinosaur clade from the Middle Jurassic to Late Cretaceous with early diversification in East Asia. However, the phylogeny of basal ceratopsians remains unclear. Here we report a new basal neoceratopsian dinosaur Beg tse based on a partial skull from Baruunbayan, Ömnögovi aimag, Mongolia. Beg is diagnosed by a unique combination of primitive and derived characters including a primitively deep premaxilla with four pre- maxillary teeth, a trapezoidal antorbital fossa with a poorly delineated anterior margin, very short dentary with an expanded and shallow groove on lateral surface, the derived presence of a robust jugal having a foramen on its anteromedial surface, and five equally spaced tubercles on the lateral ridge of the surangular. This is to our knowledge the earliest known occurrence of basal neoceratopsian in Mongolia, where this group was previously only known from Late Cretaceous strata. Phylogenetic analysis indicates that it is sister to all other neoceratopsian dinosaurs. 1 Division of Vertebrate Paleontology, American Museum of Natural History, New York 10024, USA. 2 Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont, ICTA-ICP, Edifici Z, c/de les Columnes s/n Campus de la Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Cerdanyola del Vallès Sabadell, Barcelona, Spain. 3 Department of Biological Sciences, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695, USA. 4 Institute of Paleontology, Mongolian Academy of Sciences, ✉ Ulaanbaatar 15160, Mongolia.
    [Show full text]
  • Dino Hunt Checklist Card Name Type Rarity Acanthopholis
    Dino Hunt Checklist Card Name Type Rarity Acanthopholis Dinosaur Common Acrocanthosaurus Dinosaur Rare Albertosaurus Dinosaur Rare Albertosaurus Dinosaur Ultra Rare Alioramus Dinosaur Rare Allosaurus Dinosaur Rare* Altispinax Dinosaur Rare* Amargasaurus Dinosaur Uncommon* Ammosaurus Dinosaur Uncommon* Anatotitan Dinosaur Common Anchiceratops Dinosaur Common Anchisaurus Dinosaur Common* Ankylosaurus Dinosaur Uncommon* Antarctosaurus Dinosaur Common Apatosaurus Dinosaur Uncommon* Archaeopteryx Dinosaur Rare* Archelon Dinosaur Rare Arrhinoceratops Dinosaur Common Avimimus Dinosaur Common Baby Ankylosaur Dinosaur Common Baby Ceratopsian Dinosaur Common Baby Hadrosaur Dinosaur Common Baby Raptor Dinosaur Rare Baby Sauropod Dinosaur Common Baby Theropod Dinosaur Rare Barosaurus Dinosaur Uncommon Baryonyx Dinosaur Rare* Bellusaurus Dinosaur Common Brachiosaurus Dinosaur Rare* Brachyceratops Dinosaur Uncommon Camarasaurus Dinosaur Common Camarasaurus Dinosaur Ultra Rare Camptosaurus Dinosaur Common Carnotaurus Dinosaur Rare Centrosaurus Dinosaur Common Ceratosaurus Dinosaur Rare* Cetiosaurus Dinosaur Common* Changdusaurus Dinosaur Common Chasmosaurus Dinosaur Common Chilantaisaurus Dinosaur Rare Coelophysis Dinosaur Uncommon* Coloradisaurus Dinosaur Common* Compsognathus Dinosaur Rare* Corythosaurus Dinosaur Common* Cryolophosaurus Dinosaur Rare Cynognathus Dinosaur Rare Dacentrurus Dinosaur Common* Daspletosaurus Dinosaur Rare Datousaurus Dinosaur Common Deinocheirus Dinosaur Rare* Deinonychus Dinosaur Uncommon* Deinosuchus Dinosaur Rare* Diceratops
    [Show full text]
  • And the Origin and Evolution of the Ankylosaur Pelvis
    Pelvis of Gargoyleosaurus (Dinosauria: Ankylosauria) and the Origin and Evolution of the Ankylosaur Pelvis Kenneth Carpenter1,2*, Tony DiCroce3, Billy Kinneer3, Robert Simon4 1 Prehistoric Museum, Utah State University – Eastern, Price, Utah, United States of America, 2 Geology Section, University of Colorado Museum, Boulder, Colorado, United States of America, 3 Denver Museum of Nature and Science, Denver, Colorado, United States of America, 4 Dinosaur Safaris Inc., Ashland, Virginia, United States of America Abstract Discovery of a pelvis attributed to the Late Jurassic armor-plated dinosaur Gargoyleosaurus sheds new light on the origin of the peculiar non-vertical, broad, flaring pelvis of ankylosaurs. It further substantiates separation of the two ankylosaurs from the Morrison Formation of the western United States, Gargoyleosaurus and Mymoorapelta. Although horizontally oriented and lacking the medial curve of the preacetabular process seen in Mymoorapelta, the new ilium shows little of the lateral flaring seen in the pelvis of Cretaceous ankylosaurs. Comparison with the basal thyreophoran Scelidosaurus demonstrates that the ilium in ankylosaurs did not develop entirely by lateral rotation as is commonly believed. Rather, the preacetabular process rotated medially and ventrally and the postacetabular process rotated in opposition, i.e., lateral and ventrally. Thus, the dorsal surfaces of the preacetabular and postacetabular processes are not homologous. In contrast, a series of juvenile Stegosaurus ilia show that the postacetabular process rotated dorsally ontogenetically. Thus, the pelvis of the two major types of Thyreophora most likely developed independently. Examination of other ornithischians show that a non-vertical ilium had developed independently in several different lineages, including ceratopsids, pachycephalosaurs, and iguanodonts.
    [Show full text]
  • Two New Stegosaur Specimens from the Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation of Montana, USA
    Editors' choice Two new stegosaur specimens from the Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation of Montana, USA D. CARY WOODRUFF, DAVID TREXLER, and SUSANNAH C.R. MAIDMENT Woodruff, D.C., Trexler, D., and Maidment, S.C.R. 2019. Two new stegosaur specimens from the Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation of Montana, USA. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 64 (3): 461–480. Two partial skeletons from Montana represent the northernmost occurrences of Stegosauria within North America. One of these specimens represents the northernmost dinosaur fossil ever recovered from the Morrison Formation. Consisting of fragmentary cranial and postcranial remains, these specimens are contributing to our knowledge of the record and distribution of dinosaurs within the Morrison Formation from Montana. While the stegosaurs of the Morrison Formation consist of Alcovasaurus, Hesperosaurus, and Stegosaurus, the only positively identified stegosaur from Montana thus far is Hesperosaurus. Unfortunately, neither of these new specimens exhibit diagnostic autapomorphies. Nonetheless, these specimens are important data points due to their geographic significance, and some aspects of their morphologies are striking. In one specimen, the teeth express a high degree of wear usually unobserved within this clade—potentially illuminating the progression of the chewing motion in derived stegosaurs. Other morphologies, though not histologically examined in this analysis, have the potential to be important indicators for maturational inferences. In suite with other specimens from the northern extent of the formation, these specimens contribute to the ongoing discussion that body size may be latitudinally significant for stegosaurs—an intriguing geographical hypothesis which further emphasizes that size is not an undeviating proxy for maturity in dinosaurs. Key words: Dinosauria, Thyreophora, Stegosauria, Jurassic, Morrison Formation, USA, Montana.
    [Show full text]
  • The Origin and Early Evolution of Dinosaurs
    Biol. Rev. (2010), 85, pp. 55–110. 55 doi:10.1111/j.1469-185X.2009.00094.x The origin and early evolution of dinosaurs Max C. Langer1∗,MartinD.Ezcurra2, Jonathas S. Bittencourt1 and Fernando E. Novas2,3 1Departamento de Biologia, FFCLRP, Universidade de S˜ao Paulo; Av. Bandeirantes 3900, Ribeir˜ao Preto-SP, Brazil 2Laboratorio de Anatomia Comparada y Evoluci´on de los Vertebrados, Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales ‘‘Bernardino Rivadavia’’, Avda. Angel Gallardo 470, Cdad. de Buenos Aires, Argentina 3CONICET (Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cient´ıficas y T´ecnicas); Avda. Rivadavia 1917 - Cdad. de Buenos Aires, Argentina (Received 28 November 2008; revised 09 July 2009; accepted 14 July 2009) ABSTRACT The oldest unequivocal records of Dinosauria were unearthed from Late Triassic rocks (approximately 230 Ma) accumulated over extensional rift basins in southwestern Pangea. The better known of these are Herrerasaurus ischigualastensis, Pisanosaurus mertii, Eoraptor lunensis,andPanphagia protos from the Ischigualasto Formation, Argentina, and Staurikosaurus pricei and Saturnalia tupiniquim from the Santa Maria Formation, Brazil. No uncontroversial dinosaur body fossils are known from older strata, but the Middle Triassic origin of the lineage may be inferred from both the footprint record and its sister-group relation to Ladinian basal dinosauromorphs. These include the typical Marasuchus lilloensis, more basal forms such as Lagerpeton and Dromomeron, as well as silesaurids: a possibly monophyletic group composed of Mid-Late Triassic forms that may represent immediate sister taxa to dinosaurs. The first phylogenetic definition to fit the current understanding of Dinosauria as a node-based taxon solely composed of mutually exclusive Saurischia and Ornithischia was given as ‘‘all descendants of the most recent common ancestor of birds and Triceratops’’.
    [Show full text]
  • 71St Annual Meeting Society of Vertebrate Paleontology Paris Las Vegas Las Vegas, Nevada, USA November 2 – 5, 2011 SESSION CONCURRENT SESSION CONCURRENT
    ISSN 1937-2809 online Journal of Supplement to the November 2011 Vertebrate Paleontology Vertebrate Society of Vertebrate Paleontology Society of Vertebrate 71st Annual Meeting Paleontology Society of Vertebrate Las Vegas Paris Nevada, USA Las Vegas, November 2 – 5, 2011 Program and Abstracts Society of Vertebrate Paleontology 71st Annual Meeting Program and Abstracts COMMITTEE MEETING ROOM POSTER SESSION/ CONCURRENT CONCURRENT SESSION EXHIBITS SESSION COMMITTEE MEETING ROOMS AUCTION EVENT REGISTRATION, CONCURRENT MERCHANDISE SESSION LOUNGE, EDUCATION & OUTREACH SPEAKER READY COMMITTEE MEETING POSTER SESSION ROOM ROOM SOCIETY OF VERTEBRATE PALEONTOLOGY ABSTRACTS OF PAPERS SEVENTY-FIRST ANNUAL MEETING PARIS LAS VEGAS HOTEL LAS VEGAS, NV, USA NOVEMBER 2–5, 2011 HOST COMMITTEE Stephen Rowland, Co-Chair; Aubrey Bonde, Co-Chair; Joshua Bonde; David Elliott; Lee Hall; Jerry Harris; Andrew Milner; Eric Roberts EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE Philip Currie, President; Blaire Van Valkenburgh, Past President; Catherine Forster, Vice President; Christopher Bell, Secretary; Ted Vlamis, Treasurer; Julia Clarke, Member at Large; Kristina Curry Rogers, Member at Large; Lars Werdelin, Member at Large SYMPOSIUM CONVENORS Roger B.J. Benson, Richard J. Butler, Nadia B. Fröbisch, Hans C.E. Larsson, Mark A. Loewen, Philip D. Mannion, Jim I. Mead, Eric M. Roberts, Scott D. Sampson, Eric D. Scott, Kathleen Springer PROGRAM COMMITTEE Jonathan Bloch, Co-Chair; Anjali Goswami, Co-Chair; Jason Anderson; Paul Barrett; Brian Beatty; Kerin Claeson; Kristina Curry Rogers; Ted Daeschler; David Evans; David Fox; Nadia B. Fröbisch; Christian Kammerer; Johannes Müller; Emily Rayfield; William Sanders; Bruce Shockey; Mary Silcox; Michelle Stocker; Rebecca Terry November 2011—PROGRAM AND ABSTRACTS 1 Members and Friends of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology, The Host Committee cordially welcomes you to the 71st Annual Meeting of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology in Las Vegas.
    [Show full text]
  • Note on the Sauropod and Theropod Dinosaurs from the Upper Cretaceous of Madagascar*
    EXTRACT FROM THE BULLETIN DE LA SOCIÉTÉ GÉOLOGIQUE DE FRANCE 3rd series, volume XXIV, page 176, 1896. NOTE ON THE SAUROPOD AND THEROPOD DINOSAURS FROM THE UPPER CRETACEOUS OF MADAGASCAR* by Charles DEPÉRET. (PLATE VI). Translated by Matthew Carrano Department of Anatomical Sciences SUNY at Stony Brook, September 1999 The bones of large dinosaurian reptiles described in this work were brought to me by my good friend, Mr. Dr. Félix Salètes, primary physician for the Madagascar expedition, from the environs of Maevarana, where he was charged with installing a provisional hospital. This locality is situated on the right bank of the eastern arm of the Betsiboka, 46 kilometers south of Majunga, on the northwest coast of the island of Madagascar. Not having the time to occupy himself with paleontological studies, Dr. Salètes charged one of his auxiliary agents, Mr. Landillon, company sergeant-major of the marines, with researching the fossils in the environs of the Maevarana post. Thanks to the zeal and activity of Mr. Landillon, who was not afraid to gravely expose his health in these researches, I have been able to receive the precious bones of terrestrial reptiles that are the object of this note, along with an important series of fossil marine shells. I eagerly seize the opportunity here to thank Mr. Landillon for his important shipment and for the very precise geological data which he communicated to me concerning the environs of Maevarana, and of which I will now give a short sketch. 1st. Geology of Maevarana and placement of the localities. * Original reference: Depéret, C.
    [Show full text]
  • Dinosaurs British Isles
    DINOSAURS of the BRITISH ISLES Dean R. Lomax & Nobumichi Tamura Foreword by Dr Paul M. Barrett (Natural History Museum, London) Skeletal reconstructions by Scott Hartman, Jaime A. Headden & Gregory S. Paul Life and scene reconstructions by Nobumichi Tamura & James McKay CONTENTS Foreword by Dr Paul M. Barrett.............................................................................10 Foreword by the authors........................................................................................11 Acknowledgements................................................................................................12 Museum and institutional abbreviations...............................................................13 Introduction: An age-old interest..........................................................................16 What is a dinosaur?................................................................................................18 The question of birds and the ‘extinction’ of the dinosaurs..................................25 The age of dinosaurs..............................................................................................30 Taxonomy: The naming of species.......................................................................34 Dinosaur classification...........................................................................................37 Saurischian dinosaurs............................................................................................39 Theropoda............................................................................................................39
    [Show full text]
  • The Dinosaurs Transylvanian Province in Hungary
    COMMUNICATIONS OF THE YEARBOOK OF THE ROYAL HUNGARIAN GEOLOGICAL IMPERIAL INSTITUTE ================================================================== VOL. XXIII, NUMBER 1. ================================================================== THE DINOSAURS OF THE TRANSYLVANIAN PROVINCE IN HUNGARY. BY Dr. FRANZ BARON NOPCSA. WITH PLATES I-IV AND 3 FIGURES IN THE TEXT. Published by The Royal Hungarian Geological Imperial Institute which is subject to The Royal Hungarian Agricultural Ministry BUDAPEST. BOOK-PUBLISHER OF THE FRANKLIN ASSOCIATION. 1915. THE DINOSAURS OF THE TRANSYLVANIAN PROVINCE IN HUNGARY. BY Dr. FRANZ BARON NOPCSA. WITH PLATES I-IV AND 3 FIGURES IN THE TEXT. Mit. a. d. Jahrb. d. kgl. ungar. Geolog. Reichsanst. XXIII. Bd. 1 heft I. Introduction. Since it appears doubtful when my monographic description of the dinosaurs of Transylvania1 that formed my so-to-speak preparatory works to my current dinosaur studies can be completed, due on one hand to outside circumstances, but on the other hand to the new arrangement of the vertebrate material in the kgl. ungar. geologischen Reichsanstalt accomplished by Dr. KORMOS, the necessity emerged of also exhibiting some of the dinosaur material located here, so that L. v. LÓCZY left the revision to me; I view the occasion, already briefly anticipating my final work at this point, to give diagnoses of the dinosaurs from the Transylvanian Cretaceous known up to now made possible from a systematic division of the current material, as well as to discuss their biology. The reptile remains known from the Danian of Transylvania will be mentioned only incidentally. Concerning the literature, I believe in refraining from more exact citations, since this work presents only a preliminary note.
    [Show full text]
  • The Systematic Position of the Enigmatic Thyreophoran Dinosaur Paranthodon Africanus, and the Use of Basal Exemplifiers in Phyl
    1 The systematic position of the enigmatic thyreophoran dinosaur Paranthodon africanus, 2 and the use of basal exemplifiers in phylogenetic analysis 3 4 Thomas J. Raven1,2 ,3 and Susannah C. R. Maidment2 ,3 5 61Department of Earth Science & Engineering, Imperial College London, UK 72School of Environment & Technology, University of Brighton, UK 8 3Department of Earth Sciences, Natural History Museum, London, UK 9 10Corresponding author: Thomas J. Raven 11 12Email address: [email protected] 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21ABSTRACT 22 23The first African dinosaur to be discovered, Paranthodon africanus was found in 1845 in the 24Lower Cretaceous of South Africa. Taxonomically assigned to numerous groups since discovery, 25in 1981 it was described as a stegosaur, a group of armoured ornithischian dinosaurs 26characterised by bizarre plates and spines extending from the neck to the tail. This assignment 27that has been subsequently accepted. The type material consists of a premaxilla, maxilla, a nasal, 28and a vertebra, and contains no synapomorphies of Stegosauria. Several features of the maxilla 29and dentition are reminiscent of Ankylosauria, the sister-taxon to Stegosauria, and the premaxilla 30appears superficially similar to that of some ornithopods. The vertebral material has never been 31described, and since the last description of the specimen, there have been numerous discoveries 32of thyreophoran material potentially pertinent to establishing the taxonomic assignment of the 33specimen. An investigation of the taxonomic and systematic position of Paranthodon is therefore 34warranted. This study provides a detailed re-description, including the first description of the 35vertebra. Numerous phylogenetic analyses demonstrate that the systematic position of 36Paranthodon is highly labile and subject to change depending on which exemplifier for the clade 37Stegosauria is used.
    [Show full text]
  • Re-Description of the Sauropod Dinosaur Amanzia (“Ornithopsis
    Schwarz et al. Swiss J Geosci (2020) 113:2 https://doi.org/10.1186/s00015-020-00355-5 Swiss Journal of Geosciences ORIGINAL PAPER Open Access Re-description of the sauropod dinosaur Amanzia (“Ornithopsis/Cetiosauriscus”) greppini n. gen. and other vertebrate remains from the Kimmeridgian (Late Jurassic) Reuchenette Formation of Moutier, Switzerland Daniela Schwarz1* , Philip D. Mannion2 , Oliver Wings3 and Christian A. Meyer4 Abstract Dinosaur remains were discovered in the 1860’s in the Kimmeridgian (Late Jurassic) Reuchenette Formation of Moutier, northwestern Switzerland. In the 1920’s, these were identifed as a new species of sauropod, Ornithopsis greppini, before being reclassifed as a species of Cetiosauriscus (C. greppini), otherwise known from the type species (C. stewarti) from the late Middle Jurassic (Callovian) of the UK. The syntype of “C. greppini” consists of skeletal elements from all body regions, and at least four individuals of diferent sizes can be distinguished. Here we fully re-describe this material, and re-evaluate its taxonomy and systematic placement. The Moutier locality also yielded a theropod tooth, and fragmen- tary cranial and vertebral remains of a crocodylomorph, also re-described here. “C.” greppini is a small-sized (not more than 10 m long) non-neosauropod eusauropod. Cetiosauriscus stewarti and “C.” greppini difer from each other in: (1) size; (2) the neural spine morphology and diapophyseal laminae of the anterior caudal vertebrae; (3) the length-to-height proportion in the middle caudal vertebrae; (4) the presence or absence of ridges and crests on the middle caudal cen- tra; and (5) the shape and proportions of the coracoid, humerus, and femur.
    [Show full text]
  • A Stable Isotopic Investigation of Resource Partitioning Among Neosauropod Dinosaurs of the Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation
    A stable isotopic investigation of resource partitioning among neosauropod dinosaurs of the Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation Benjamin T. Breeden, III SID: 110305422 [email protected] GEOL394H University of Maryland, College Park, Department of Geology 29 April 2011 Advisors: Dr. Thomas R. Holtz1, Jr., Dr. Alan Jay Kaufman1, and Dr. Matthew T. Carrano2 1: University of Maryland, College Park, Department of Geology 2: National Museum of Natural History, Department of Paleobiology ABSTRACT For more than a century, morphological studies have been used to attempt to understand the partitioning of resources in the Morrison Fauna, particularly between members of the two major clades of neosauropod (long-necked, megaherbivorous) dinosaurs: Diplodocidae and Macronaria. While it is generally accepted that most macronarians fed 3-5m above the ground, the feeding habits of diplodocids are somewhat more enigmatic; it is not clear whether diplodocids fed higher or lower than macronarians. While many studies exploring sauropod resource portioning have focused on differences in the morphologies of the two groups, few have utilized geochemical evidence. Stable isotope geochemistry has become an increasingly common and reliable means of investigating paleoecological questions, and due to the resistance of tooth enamel to diagenetic alteration, fossil teeth can provide invaluable paleoecological and behavioral data that would be otherwise unobtainable. Studies in the Ituri Rainforest in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, have shown that stable isotope ratios measured in the teeth of herbivores reflect the heights at which these animals fed in the forest due to isotopic variation in plants with height caused by differences in humidity at the forest floor and the top of the forest exposed to the atmosphere.
    [Show full text]