DOCSLIB.ORG

Body Size of Some Southern South American Cretaceous Dinosaurs

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Body Size of Some Southern South American Cretaceous Dinosaurs Historical Biology, 2004, 1–13 Giants and Bizarres: Body Size of Some Southern South American Cretaceous Dinosaurs GERARDO V. MAZZETTAa,*, PER CHRISTIANSENb,† and RICHARD A. FARIN˜ Aa,‡ aDepartamento de Paleontologı´a, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de la Repu´blica, Igua´ 4225, 11400 Montevideo, Uruguay; bDepartment of Vertebrates, Zoological Museum, Universitetsparken 15, DK-2100 Copenhagen Ø, Denmark Body masses of some South American dinosaurs are sauropods from southern South America appear to estimated. The sauropod Argentinosaurus huinculensis have rivalled or even exceeded the hitherto largest reached 73 tonnes, and therefore, is the largest of all land known Laurasian forms. animals whose mass has been rigorously obtained. Another sauropod, Antarctosaurus giganteus, was the It is difficult to say to what extent the second largest, at nearly 69 tonnes, while Antarctosaurus known southern South American taxa might wichmannianus reached 34 tonnes. A third sauropod, the have characterised the Cretaceous continental bizarre-looking Amargasaurus cazaui, was much smaller, assemblages of all of South America. However, it with a body mass of only 2.5 tonnes. Among theropods, the body mass of the strangely looking, horned seems reasonable to suppose that most of the Carnotaurus sastrei, was volumetrically estimated at 1.5 dinosaur groups recorded in southern South America tonnes, while allometric equations on limb measure- were present in other regions of the continent as well, ments yielded overestimations. Moreover, the holotype where relatively less palaeontological excavations specimen of Giganotosaurus carolinii (MUCPv-CH-1) have been made and where preservation conditions was about as large as the average-sized Tyrannosaurus rex, and only marginally smaller than “Sue”, the largest are not as favourable as in Patagonia. Bonaparte specimen. However, a new dentary of Giganotosaurus (1986) has pointed out that most of the dinosaurian (MUCPv-95) is 8% longer than that of the holotype. taxa of the South American Cretaceous were Assuming geometric similarity, that individual must indicative of the endemism observed throughout have had a body mass above 8 tonnes and hence must have been the largest theropod ever found. most of the southern supercontinent of Gondwana. This process was likely brought about by the relative geographic isolation of Gondwana and Laurasia, Keywords: South American dinosaurs; Argentinosaurus; Antarctosaurus; Amargasaurus; Giganotosaurus; Carnotaurus which probably began in the Middle Jurassic and lasted until the Campanian (Bonaparte, 1986, 1996a). However, this palaeobiogeographic issue still needs INTRODUCTION further study to be fully understood. The current knowledge of the dinosaur fauna of the South Dinosaurs were the dominant forms of the Creta- American Cretaceous indicates that it shows ceous tetrapod faunas of southern South America, as reasonably good affinities with the Cretaceous they were in general throughout the Mesozoic faunas of other Gondwanan landmasses: Africa, ecosystems (Wing et al., 1992). Among the Indo-Madagascar, and Australia (Bonaparte, 1986; dinosaurs, sauropods are particularly interesting Sampson et al., 1998), and more substantial differ- from a biological point of view since some of them ences with the Laurasian fossil record (Bonaparte and constituted the largest terrestrial vertebrates by a Kielan-Jaworowska, 1987). wide margin (Benton, 1990; Christiansen, 1997; Several of the southern South American dinosaurs 2002). The large-bodied Laurasian sauropods are appear different from their Laurasian relatives. generally the more well known, and some of these The dicraeosaurine sauropod Amargasaurus cazaui were of truly gigantic proportions, but some appears to have taken the elongated, bifurcate neural *E-mail: [email protected] †E-mail: [email protected] ‡Corresponding author. E-mail: fari,[email protected] ISSN 0891-2963 print/ISSN 1029-2381 online q 2004 Taylor & Francis Ltd DOI: 10.1080/08912960410001715132 2 G.V. MAZZETTA et al. spines, common in the neck and anterior dorsal the holotype of another titanosaurian sauropod, regions of diplodocoids, to extremes, as they A. giganteus (MLP 23-316), were used for this study.{ resemble large spikes. Among the most interesting The mentioned material is housed at the exhibition of forms of titanosaurian sauropods known to date are the Museo de La Plata, Argentina, except for the Argentinosaurus huinculensis, widely regarded as the holotype of A. huinculensis, which is exhibited at the largest dinosaur hitherto known (Bonaparte and Museo Municipal “Carmen Funes” of Plaza Huincul, Coria, 1993; Appenzeller, 1994; Paul, 1994, 1997), and Neuque´n, Argentina. Additionally, the principal Antarctosaurus giganteus, which appears to have been hindlimb bones of Antarctosaurus wichmannianus nearly as large. Aspects of the palaeobiology of these were included. The latter material was collected in giants have not been investigated, nor have rigorous Chubut, Argentina (Huene, 1929), but presently is body mass estimates been attempted. Two recent housed at the Field Museum of Natural History theropod discoveries on Gondwana, although in Chicago. At present it appears uncertain incomplete or fragmentary, appear to have equalled if A. wichmannianus is a different species from or even exceeded in size to the largest and complete A. giganteus, but in this paper they are treated as two Tyrannosaurus rex, the specimen FMNH PR2081 species (the impressive size difference may be informally known as “Sue” (Horner and Lessem, considered another indication that they represent 1993). One of them is the predatory dinosaur two species). The femur (FMNH P13019) and Carcharodontosaurus saharicus,aspeciesfirst associated tibia (FMNH P13020) are not from the recognised in 1927 and represented by new material same hindlimb (the femur is a right side bone, unlike (a skull) discovered in the earliest Late Cretaceous the tibia) but were found together, indicating that (Cenomanian) of the Kem Kem region of Morocco they must have belonged to the same animal. This is (Sereno et al., 1996). The other, and probably further corroborated by the fact that the size and the largest terrestrial flesh-eater ever found, is proportions appear right for one individual, Giganotosaurus carolinii, from the mid-Cretaceous and since the texture and colour of the two bones is (Albian-Cenomanian) of north-western Patagonia, identical. Although the bones are of gigantic Argentina (Coria and Salgado, 1995; Calvo and dimensions they clearly belong to an individual Coria, 1998). distinctly smaller than the colossal A. giganteus Palaeobiological studies of South American dino- (the length of the femur in MLP 23-316 is 2350 mm saurs are scarce (Casamiquela, 1978; Mazzetta et al., compared to 1855 mm in FMNH P13019). 1998; Blanco and Mazzetta, 2001; Mazzetta and The skeletal cast of A. cazaui, mounted at the Blanco, 2001). From a biological point of view, many exhibition of the Museo Argentino de Ciencias dinosaurian taxa of southern South America are Naturales “Bernardino Rivadavia”, Buenos Aires, interesting and in need of palaeobiological analysis, Argentina, and additional material housed at the particularly the above-mentioned huge titanosaurian same institution, labelled MACN-N 15 (holotype), sauropods and the large-bodied theropod, as they were also used in the analyses. Additionally, limb appear to represent size maxima in dinosaur bone measurements of the holotype specimen of evolution. In this paper, we address the estimation C. sastrei (MACN-CH 894) published by Bonaparte of their body size to provide a basis for further et al. (1990), and measurements on appendicular palaeobiological studies related to locomotion and bones of the disarticulated holotype specimen of other palaeoecological issues. Additionally, some G. carolinii (MUCPv-CH-1), were also considered. bizarre Patagonian dinosaurs like the small sauro- All the species studied here were found in pod A. cazaui and the moderately-sized theropod Patagonia, Argentina. A. giganteus is from the Rı´o Carnotaurus sastrei are also included as they are Neuque´n Formation, Early Cenomanian, Neuque´n specimens constituted by nearly complete skeletons. Province (north-western Patagonia) (Huene, 1929), and A. cazaui (Fig. 1) is from the La Amarga Formation, Late Neocomian, Neuque´n Province MATERIALS AND METHODS (Salgado and Bonaparte, 1991). A. huinculensis and G. carolinii are both from the Rı´o Limay Formation, Included Taxa mid-Cretaceous (Albian-Cenomanian), Neuque´n An incomplete femur attributed to A. huinculensis Province (Bonaparte and Coria, 1993; Coria (labelled MLP-DP 46-VIII-21-3), and skeletal material and Salgado, 1995), while the other theropod belonging to its holotype (PVPH-1) and also to included in the study, C. sastrei (Fig. 2), was collected {Institutional abbreviations: CN, Zoology Museum, Copenhagen University; FMNH, Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, USA; HMN, Museum fu¨ r Naturkunde der Humboldt Universita¨t, Berlin, Germany; MACN, Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales “Bernardino Rivadavia”, Buenos Aires, Argentina; MLP-DP (and also MLP), Departamento Cientı´fico de Paleontologı´a de Vertebradosof the Museo de La Plata, La Plata, Argentina; MUCPv-CH, Museo de Geologı´a y Paleontologı´a de la Universidad Nacional del Comahue, Paleontologı´ade Vertebrados, El Choco´n collection, Neuque´n, Argentina; PVPH, Museo Municipal “Carmen Funes”, Plaza Huincul, Neuque´n, Argentina. SOUTH AMERICAN DINOSAURS
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Jurassic Park" Have Come to Pass
    JURASSIC WORLD and INDOMINUS REX 0. JURASSIC WORLD and INDOMINUS REX - Story Preface 1. EARLY DINOSAUR DISCOVERIES 2. THE JURASSIC PERIOD 3. JURASSIC-ERA DINOSAURS 4. FOSSILIZED AMBER 5. THE SOLNHOFEN LIMESTONE 6. TYRANNOSAURUS REX 7. T-REX - SUE 8. PTERANODON 9. TRICERATOPS 10. VELOCIRAPTOR 11. SPINOSAURUS 12. DINOSAUR TRACKS AND DISPUTES 13. NEW DINOSAUR DISCOVERIES 14. JURASSIC WORLD and INDOMINUS REX What do you do when you want to boost visitor attendance to your dinosaur-dominated, Jurassic World theme park? Use DNA, from four different dinosaurs, and “in the Hammond lab” create something entirely new and fearsome. Then ... give the new creature a name which signifies its awesome power: Indominus rex. At least ... that’s how the story theme works in the 2015 film “Jurassic World.” So ... let’s travel back in time, to the age of the dinosaurs, and meet the four interesting creatures whose DNA led to this new and ferocious predator: Rugops; Carnotaurus; Giganotosaurus; Majungasaurus. If—contrary to plan—Indominus rex becomes a killing machine, we have to ask: Did she “inherit” that trait from her “ancestors?” Let’s examine the question, starting with Rugops (ROO-gops). What we know about this theropod, from a physical standpoint, comes from a single, nearly complete and fossilized skull. With its weak but gaping jaw and skull, Rugops—which means “wrinkle face”—is not a predator like the Cretaceous-Period Spinosaurus. Instead, Rugops is a natural-born scavenger, likely waiting in the wings for what’s left of a Spinosaurus-caught, Cretaceous-era fish known as Onchopristis. Living off the scraps of meals, killed by another creature, could be enough for a Rugops.
    [Show full text]
  • Fused and Vaulted Nasals of Tyrannosaurid Dinosaurs: Implications for Cranial Strength and Feeding Mechanics
    Fused and vaulted nasals of tyrannosaurid dinosaurs: Implications for cranial strength and feeding mechanics ERIC SNIVELY, DONALD M. HENDERSON, and DOUG S. PHILLIPS Snively, E., Henderson, D.M., and Phillips, D.S. 2006. Fused and vaulted nasals of tyrannosaurid dinosaurs: Implications for cranial strength and feeding mechanics. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 51 (3): 435–454. Tyrannosaurid theropods display several unusual adaptations of the skulls and teeth. Their nasals are fused and vaulted, suggesting that these elements braced the cranium against high feeding forces. Exceptionally high strengths of maxillary teeth in Tyrannosaurus rex indicate that it could exert relatively greater feeding forces than other tyrannosaurids. Areas and second moments of area of the nasals, calculated from CT cross−sections, show higher nasal strengths for large tyrannosaurids than for Allosaurus fragilis. Cross−sectional geometry of theropod crania reveals high second moments of area in tyrannosaurids, with resulting high strengths in bending and torsion, when compared with the crania of similarly sized theropods. In tyrannosaurids trends of strength increase are positively allomeric and have similar allometric expo− nents, indicating correlated progression towards unusually high strengths of the feeding apparatus. Fused, arched nasals and broad crania of tyrannosaurids are consistent with deep bites that impacted bone and powerful lateral movements of the head for dismembering prey. Key words: Theropoda, Carnosauria, Tyrannosauridae, biomechanics, feeding mechanics, computer modeling, com− puted tomography. Eric Snively [[email protected]], Department of Biological Sciences, University of Calgary, 2500 University Drive NW, Calgary, Alberta T2N 1N4, Canada; Donald M. Henderson [[email protected]], Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology, Box 7500, Drumheller, Alberta T0J 0Y0, Canada; Doug S.
    [Show full text]
  • The-Smartest-Dinosaur.Pdf
    BY “DINO” DON LESSEM ILLUSTRATIONS BY JOHN BINDON a LERNER PUBLICATIONS COMPANY / MINNEAPOLIS To Emily Lessem, my favorite niece Text copyright © 2005 by Dino Don, Inc. Illustrations copyright © 2005 by John Bindon Photographs courtesy of: Dino Don, Inc., p. 12; Dr. Philip Currie, Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology, Drumheller, Alberta, Canada, p. 13; Photographed by Robert Fillion. Reproduced with permission of the Canadian Museum of Nature, Ottawa, Canada, p. 30; Animals, Animals © OSF/BARTLETT, D&J, p. 31. All rights reserved. International copyright secured. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise—without the prior written permission of Lerner Publications Company, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in an acknowledged review. This book is available in two editions: Library binding by Lerner Publications Company, a division of Lerner Publishing Group Soft cover by First Avenue Editions, an imprint of Lerner Publishing Group 241 First Avenue North Minneapolis, MN 55401 U.S.A. Website address: www.lernerbooks.com Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication-Data Lessem, Don. The smartest dinosaurs / by Don Lessem ; illustrations by John Bindon. p. cm. — (Meet the dinosaurs) Includes index. eISBN: 0–8225–3285–9 1. Dinosaurs—Juvenile literature. I. Bindon, John, ill. II. Title. III. Series: Lessem, Don. Meet the dinosaurs. QE861.5.L477 2005 567.9—dc22 2004011152 Manufactured in the United States of America 1 2 3 4 5 6 – DP – 10 09 08 07 06 05 MEET THE SMARTEST DINOSAURS . 4 HOW SMART WERE DINOSAURS? .
    [Show full text]
  • The Princeton Field Guide to Dinosaurs, Second Edition
    MASS ESTIMATES - DINOSAURS ETC (largely based on models) taxon k model femur length* model volume ml x specific gravity = model mass g specimen (modeled 1st):kilograms:femur(or other long bone length)usually in decameters kg = femur(or other long bone)length(usually in decameters)3 x k k = model volume in ml x specific gravity(usually for whole model) then divided/model femur(or other long bone)length3 (in most models femur in decameters is 0.5253 = 0.145) In sauropods the neck is assigned a distinct specific gravity; in dinosaurs with large feathers their mass is added separately; in dinosaurs with flight ablity the mass of the fight muscles is calculated separately as a range of possiblities SAUROPODS k femur trunk neck tail total neck x 0.6 rest x0.9 & legs & head super titanosaur femur:~55000-60000:~25:00 Argentinosaurus ~4 PVPH-1:~55000:~24.00 Futalognkosaurus ~3.5-4 MUCPv-323:~25000:19.80 (note:downsize correction since 2nd edition) Dreadnoughtus ~3.8 “ ~520 ~75 50 ~645 0.45+.513=.558 MPM-PV 1156:~26000:19.10 Giraffatitan 3.45 .525 480 75 25 580 .045+.455=.500 HMN MB.R.2181:31500(neck 2800):~20.90 “XV2”:~45000:~23.50 Brachiosaurus ~4.15 " ~590 ~75 ~25 ~700 " +.554=~.600 FMNH P25107:~35000:20.30 Europasaurus ~3.2 “ ~465 ~39 ~23 ~527 .023+.440=~.463 composite:~760:~6.20 Camarasaurus 4.0 " 542 51 55 648 .041+.537=.578 CMNH 11393:14200(neck 1000):15.25 AMNH 5761:~23000:18.00 juv 3.5 " 486 40 55 581 .024+.487=.511 CMNH 11338:640:5.67 Chuanjiesaurus ~4.1 “ ~550 ~105 ~38 ~693 .063+.530=.593 Lfch 1001:~10700:13.75 2 M.
    [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]
  • At Carowinds
    at Carowinds EDUCATOR’S GUIDE CLASSROOM LESSON PLANS & FIELD TRIP ACTIVITIES Table of Contents at Carowinds Introduction The Field Trip ................................... 2 The Educator’s Guide ....................... 3 Field Trip Activity .................................. 4 Lesson Plans Lesson 1: Form and Function ........... 6 Lesson 2: Dinosaur Detectives ....... 10 Lesson 3: Mesozoic Math .............. 14 Lesson 4: Fossil Stories.................. 22 Games & Puzzles Crossword Puzzles ......................... 29 Logic Puzzles ................................. 32 Word Searches ............................... 37 Answer Keys ...................................... 39 Additional Resources © 2012 Dinosaurs Unearthed Recommended Reading ................. 44 All rights reserved. Except for educational fair use, no portion of this guide may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any Dinosaur Data ................................ 45 means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other without Discovering Dinosaurs .................... 52 explicit prior permission from Dinosaurs Unearthed. Multiple copies may only be made by or for the teacher for class use. Glossary .............................................. 54 Content co-created by TurnKey Education, Inc. and Dinosaurs Unearthed, 2012 Standards www.turnkeyeducation.net www.dinosaursunearthed.com Curriculum Standards .................... 59 Introduction The Field Trip From the time of the first exhibition unveiled in 1854 at the Crystal
    [Show full text]
  • The Sauropodomorph Biostratigraphy of the Elliot Formation of Southern Africa: Tracking the Evolution of Sauropodomorpha Across the Triassic–Jurassic Boundary
    Editors' choice The sauropodomorph biostratigraphy of the Elliot Formation of southern Africa: Tracking the evolution of Sauropodomorpha across the Triassic–Jurassic boundary BLAIR W. MCPHEE, EMESE M. BORDY, LARA SCISCIO, and JONAH N. CHOINIERE McPhee, B.W., Bordy, E.M., Sciscio, L., and Choiniere, J.N. 2017. The sauropodomorph biostratigraphy of the Elliot Formation of southern Africa: Tracking the evolution of Sauropodomorpha across the Triassic–Jurassic boundary. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 62 (3): 441–465. The latest Triassic is notable for coinciding with the dramatic decline of many previously dominant groups, followed by the rapid radiation of Dinosauria in the Early Jurassic. Among the most common terrestrial vertebrates from this time, sauropodomorph dinosaurs provide an important insight into the changing dynamics of the biota across the Triassic–Jurassic boundary. The Elliot Formation of South Africa and Lesotho preserves the richest assemblage of sauropodomorphs known from this age, and is a key index assemblage for biostratigraphic correlations with other simi- larly-aged global terrestrial deposits. Past assessments of Elliot Formation biostratigraphy were hampered by an overly simplistic biozonation scheme which divided it into a lower “Euskelosaurus” Range Zone and an upper Massospondylus Range Zone. Here we revise the zonation of the Elliot Formation by: (i) synthesizing the last three decades’ worth of fossil discoveries, taxonomic revision, and lithostratigraphic investigation; and (ii) systematically reappraising the strati- graphic provenance of important fossil locations. We then use our revised stratigraphic information in conjunction with phylogenetic character data to assess morphological disparity between Late Triassic and Early Jurassic sauropodomorph taxa. Our results demonstrate that the Early Jurassic upper Elliot Formation is considerably more taxonomically and morphologically diverse than previously thought.
    [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]
  • 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]
  • 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]
  • Dinosaur Species List E to M
    Dinosaur Species List E to M E F G • Echinodon becklesii • Fabrosaurus australis • Gallimimus bullatus • Edmarka rex • Frenguellisaurus • Garudimimus brevipes • Edmontonia longiceps ischigualastensis • Gasosaurus constructus • Edmontonia rugosidens • Fulengia youngi • Gasparinisaura • Edmontosaurus annectens • Fulgurotherium australe cincosaltensis • Edmontosaurus regalis • Genusaurus sisteronis • Edmontosaurus • Genyodectes serus saskatchewanensis • Geranosaurus atavus • Einiosaurus procurvicornis • Gigantosaurus africanus • Elaphrosaurus bambergi • Giganotosaurus carolinii • Elaphrosaurus gautieri • Gigantosaurus dixeyi • Elaphrosaurus iguidiensis • Gigantosaurus megalonyx • Elmisaurus elegans • Gigantosaurus robustus • Elmisaurus rarus • Gigantoscelus • Elopteryx nopcsai molengraaffi • Elosaurus parvus • Gilmoreosaurus • Emausaurus ernsti mongoliensis • Embasaurus minax • Giraffotitan altithorax • Enigmosaurus • Gongbusaurus shiyii mongoliensis • Gongbusaurus • Eoceratops canadensis wucaiwanensis • Eoraptor lunensis • Gorgosaurus lancensis • Epachthosaurus sciuttoi • Gorgosaurus lancinator • Epanterias amplexus • Gorgosaurus libratus • Erectopus sauvagei • "Gorgosaurus" novojilovi • Erectopus superbus • Gorgosaurus sternbergi • Erlikosaurus andrewsi • Goyocephale lattimorei • Eucamerotus foxi • Gravitholus albertae • Eucercosaurus • Gresslyosaurus ingens tanyspondylus • Gresslyosaurus robustus • Eucnemesaurus fortis • Gresslyosaurus torgeri • Euhelopus zdanskyi • Gryponyx africanus • Euoplocephalus tutus • Gryponyx taylori • Euronychodon
    [Show full text]
  • Giants from the Past | Presented by the Field Museum Learning Center 2 Pre-Lesson Preparation
    Giants from the Past Middle School NGSS: MS-LS4-1, MS-LS4-4 Lesson Description Learning Objectives This investigation focuses on the fossils of a particular • Students will demonstrate an understanding that group of dinosaurs, the long-necked, herbivores known as particular traits provide advantages for survival sauropodomorphs. Students will gain an understanding by using models to test and gather data about the of why certain body features provide advantages to traits’ functions. Background survival through the use of models. Students will analyze • Students will demonstrate an understanding of and interpret data from fossils to synthesize a narrative ancestral traits by investigating how traits appear for the evolution of adaptations that came to define a and change (or evolve) in the fossil record well-known group of dinosaurs. over time. • Students will demonstrate an understanding of how traits function to provide advantages Driving Phenomenon in a particular environment by inferring daily Several traits, inherited and adapted over millions of years, activities that the dinosaur would have performed provided advantages for a group of dinosaurs to evolve for survival. into the largest animals that ever walked the Earth. Giant dinosaurs called sauropods evolved over a period of 160 Time Requirements million years. • Four 40-45 minute sessions As paleontologists continue to uncover new specimens, Prerequisite Knowledge they see connections across time and geography that lead to a better understanding of how adaptations interact • Sedimentary rocks form in layers, the newer rocks with their environment to provide unique advantages are laid down on top of the older rocks. depending on when and where animals lived.
    [Show full text]