Quick viewing(Text Mode)

The Oldest Ceratopsians and a Fabulous Jurassic Fauna from Western China

The Oldest Ceratopsians and a Fabulous Jurassic Fauna from Western China

THE OLDEST CERATOPSIANS AND A FABULOUS FAUNA FROM WESTERN

Dr. Catherine A. Forster Program in Geological Sciences The George Washington University Late in pterodactlyloids tyrannosaur

ceratopsians

ornithopods

Mark Stevenson “small theropods” The number of localities is much smaller in the Jurassic than in the Cretaceous. Fastovsky et al. 2004 Calibrated Theropod (some at least) Phylogeny

J. Clark 158.7 my

161.2 my

Mark Hallett

Sinraptor

Cheung Chung Tat GWU-IVPP Expeditions

8 expeditions, from 2001-2012

Co-organized by J. Clark (GWU) and (IVPP) GOALS ACHIEVEMENTS

Discover whole skeletons 17 new , nearly of new species, especially all with most of the smaller faunal components skeleton 5 new species of Discover from the theropod early diversification of dinosaur lineages 2 new basal ceratopsians

Discover fossils from the 1 new basal ornithopod early diversification of modern land vertebrates 1 new stegosaur

New basal , crocs, turtles, , *

Tibetan Plateau

India National National Geographic Society Google Earth 50 km Wucaiwan (Stratigraphy by D. Eberth) WUCAIWAN ("five colored bend") Wucaiwan exposes rocks of the to Early Cretaceous (~175-120 million old)

The area is named for extremely colorful outcrops featured in the movie "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" Sandstorm, Wucaiwan

J. Clark J. Clark A. Ossi

J. Clark J. Clark J. Clark GratefulClassic Dinosaur thanks Phylogeny to:

Ceratopsids (North America) Sinoceratops

Chaoyangsaurus (Tuchengzi Fm., China)

dorsal

ventral P. Makovicky Digging up ceratopsians downsi

R.S. Li

Xu et al 2006 Proc. R. Soc. B 273, 2135–2140

More Yinlong specimens jugal quadrate

squamosal dentaries Hualianceratops Yinlong

Heterodontosaurus

Lesothosaurus

Hexinlusaurus Albertaceratops

Protoceratops

Yinlong Yinlong Liaoceratops Auroraceratops

Leptoceratops At least four lineages of ceratopsians are present by the earliest Late Jurassic

Han et al., 2015, PLOSone

Ceratopsians Pachycephalosaurs

MARGINOCEPHALIA Yinlong

Shelf on rear of

Stegoceras (pachycephalosaur) Yinlong ornamentation

Stegoceras (pachycephalosaur) ornamentation

Other Discoveries! Collecting skeletons of theropods, upper Shishugou Fm. sollers, a new alvarezsauroid theropod that extends the record of this group back over 60 million years. Choiniere et al. 2010 Science 327:571-574.

X. Xu

Portia Sloan Rollings

J. Clark , a new basal coelurosaur

Choiniere et al., 2013, Syst. Paleo. salleei, another basal coelurosaur Skeleton, 2005, before 2005 block after excavation excavation and jacketing

J. Clark Collecting a theropod block “monolith”

J Clark J. Clark wucaii, one of the oldest and most primitive tyrannosaurs.

Xu, Clark et al., 2006, 439: 413-415.

J. Clark

Two Guanlong skeletons were preserved on top of three more skeletons of other theropods, separated by rock. This raises the question, how did these skeletons become stacked together?

Eberth et al. 2010 Palaios 25:112–125 National Geographic Magazine, June 2008 Site of a sauropod “punch mark”, where a gigantic sauropod stepped and pushed the sediment down.

D. Eberth A

red upper layer

drab (tan) layers

m

2 B

G. wucaii V14531

G. wucaii V14532

C TBB2002 unknown V15302

L. inextricabilis V15303

L. inextricabilis V15304

Eberth et al. 2010 inextricabilis - “mired that could not escape”

Xu Xing

Xu, Clark et al., 2009 Nature 459: 940-944. The toothless skull of Limusaurus inextricabilis: the first known toothless theropod from the Jurassic.

J. Clark Nineteen skeletons of Limusaurus were preserved in the “dino death traps”, including several babies

S. Wang

Wang et al., 2017 Current Biology 27, 144–148 J. Clark Middle layer of 2005 block, with large theropod skeleton, two small theropod skeletons, and skeleton Skull of baby Limusaurus processed from CT scans

J. Stiegler Teeth are present in juvenile Limusaurus and then lost between 1 and 2 years of age, replaced by a .

2 cm

2 cm J. Stiegler GratefulOrnithischian thanks phylogeny to: JiangjunosaurusGrateful, a stegosaur thanks from to: Collecting a stegosaur (poorly) in 2001 One of several skeletons of a small basal ornithopod dinosaur

J. Clark Grateful thanks to: A tiny skeleton of a docodont mammal, close to the ancestry of all living mammals

J Clark Unnamed (tritylodont), Wucaiwan

3 cm Bienotheroides, a cynodont from Wucaiwan

Ventral view Six species of turtles from Wucaiwan (2 new), including this tortoise-like form with a toothed skull

J. Clark J. Clark

Joyce et al., 2016, BMC Evolutionary Biology (2016) 16:236 The oldest articulated lizard skeleton, Wucaiwan

J. Clark Sericipterus wucaiwanensis, a rhamphorhynchid

J. Clark

Andres et al. 2010 J Vert Pal 30: 163-187. Kryptodrakon progenitor, the oldest pterodactyloid pterosaur.

Andres et al. 2014 Current Biology 24: 1011-1016. Skull and skeleton of the “running crocodile”, Junggarsuchus sloani

Portia Sloan Rollings Clark et al., 2004, Nature 430:1021-1023 Skeleton of a shartegosuchid crocodyliform, Wucaiwan

J. Clark Grateful thanks to:

Dr. Xu Xing, Chinese Academy of Sciences Dr. James Clark, GWU Dr. Han Fenglu, China University of Geosciences Jonah Choiniere, Brian Andres, Josef Stiegler, Karen Poole

GWU’s University Facilitating Fund U.S. National Science Foundation National Geographic Society Hilmar Sallee bequest Chinese National Natural Sciences Foundation Jurassic Foundation Chinese Academy of Sciences Changji Autonomous Prefecture

Top View