tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71216006780883287772024-03-12T23:06:13.029-07:00Notions Of A Most Peculiar Dinosaur NerdTristan Stockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13007322806054653960noreply@blogger.comBlogger16125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7121600678088328777.post-21070377161034652662017-12-06T16:32:00.001-08:002017-12-07T15:52:39.513-08:00Halszkaraptor and what it means for Dromaeosaurids<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrE9-9Vv0pyGmcfRUUclmm3fFM39HvBJIf7gBehp6n6OJraNgvajk_6AslIe1vxAHG_HTFpebgm6si-FyxR6bzk4UbTGDDWCf8NBp5kWbrrtK0CbcEYzaREEfe-t1AIP76gDDgsqvDa94/s1600/halszkasraptor_joschua-knueppe.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="1200" height="424" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrE9-9Vv0pyGmcfRUUclmm3fFM39HvBJIf7gBehp6n6OJraNgvajk_6AslIe1vxAHG_HTFpebgm6si-FyxR6bzk4UbTGDDWCf8NBp5kWbrrtK0CbcEYzaREEfe-t1AIP76gDDgsqvDa94/s640/halszkasraptor_joschua-knueppe.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #f8f9fa; font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Halszkaraptor escuilliei</i> by Joschua Knuppe</span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Today saw the announcement of one of if not the biggest dinosaur discovery of 2017: the description of <i>Halszkaraptor escuilliei</i>, a small, semi-aquatic fishing dromaeosaurid from Mongolia. Yes, seriously, swimming raptors. Not only is this inferred to be a fish-eating animal (With ISOs to boot!) but the specimen preserves a flattened forelimb that forms a paddle-like hand, and its proportions cluster with wing-propelled diving birds and marine reptiles in morphometric analyses. This thing is a true aquatic swimmer, and basically what happens when a raptor dinosaur copies a penguin or auk.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">But while I could go on and on about the anatomy and what that means for the biology of this interesting taxon, I'll refrain from that here because, in all honesty, it's gonna be talked about everywhere else by people better-equipped to talk about it than me. Instead what I'll be talking about here is the new subfamily, </span>halszkaraptorines, and their placement among other dromaeosaurids. <span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">The newly-founded members of this subfamily include the aforementioned </span><i style="background-color: #f8f9fa; text-align: center;">Halszkaraptor escuilliei</i><span style="background-color: #f8f9fa; text-align: center;">, the similar but incomplete <i>Mahakala omnogovae</i>, and the fragmentary </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Hulsanpes </i><span style="background-color: #f8f9fa;"><i>perlei</i>, known only from a foot and partial braincase. All of these taxa seem to be from inner Mongolia (though note that </span></span><i style="background-color: #f8f9fa; text-align: center;">Halszkaraptor</i><span style="background-color: #f8f9fa; text-align: center;">'s</span><span style="background-color: #f8f9fa; text-align: center;"> exact location of origin is unknown)</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: #f8f9fa;">, but there's fragmentary material of what might be more </span></span>specimens from Canada<span style="background-color: #f8f9fa;">. The incomplete nature of </span><i style="text-align: center;">Mahakala </i><span style="text-align: center;">and </span><i>Hulsanpes</i> make it difficult to figure out if they have all the same aquatic adaptations as <i style="background-color: #f8f9fa; text-align: center;">Halszkaraptor</i><span style="background-color: #f8f9fa; text-align: center;">, but what we do know of them is that they're </span><span style="background-color: #f8f9fa;">similarly small-bodied and long-legged dinosaurs with short forelimbs. </span><i style="text-align: center;">Mahakala </i><span style="text-align: center;">might even preserve a similar paddle-like morphology of the forelimb, but it's difficult to tell without more material.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Traditional dromaeosauridae is made up of three groups: the thin-snouted and long-legged u</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">nenlagiinae of the southern continents; the mostly small-bodied, winged microraptorines; and the extremely popular macropredatory</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> eudromeosaurines (which are split up further into velociraptorines and dromaeosaurines). H</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">alszkaraptorines are right at the base of all other groups as the earliest-branching dromaeosaurids, and thus some parts of their anatomy might be a decent example of what the ancestral dromaeosaurid looked like. But here's the thing: as you move from them up the tree closer to eudromaeosaurs, an interesting pattern emerges.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBcPhPhyn0p3eEDiMfZA8A1sPQEgEIVA2afN7BjVVlHZlFo-GL_pIwtXM7ct7Qyu4vAQCqDw9VngcbaTSewsaAhIs5cgYxm6kOgV7rMZVCyFDZrh63uFKrTvg3B1FfOJQi589IbEP8B64/s1600/Halszkasraptor+Phylogeny.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="670" height="381" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBcPhPhyn0p3eEDiMfZA8A1sPQEgEIVA2afN7BjVVlHZlFo-GL_pIwtXM7ct7Qyu4vAQCqDw9VngcbaTSewsaAhIs5cgYxm6kOgV7rMZVCyFDZrh63uFKrTvg3B1FfOJQi589IbEP8B64/s400/Halszkasraptor+Phylogeny.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Phylogeny from Cau et. al. 2017 with added taxa notes.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">According to this phylogeny, dromaeosaurids start out as short-armed, long-legged taxa, something akin to terrestrial storks, and presumably feeding on small prey items like fish and small vertebrates before developing longer forelimbs, shorter legs, and boxier skulls. The two basalmost groups, </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">halszkaraptorines</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> and unenlagiines, both show adaptations for aquatic feeding, and even further up the tree </span><i style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Microraptor </i><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">shows direct evidence of fish-eating. So three out of the four major divisions of dromaeosaurids show evidence of piscivory.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Would this suggest that all dromaeosaurids came from a piscivorous or stork-like, long-legged ancestor? I wasn't the only person to suggest this, as some of my friends came to a similar conclusion after reading through the paper. If this is the case then what does that mean for evolutionary models, particularly involving the origin of birds and flight, like the neoflightlessness hypothesis?</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> Is a long-legged, short-armed body form ancestral to paravians? Troodontids also have this kind of bodyplan and they're even closer to birds in most recent phylogenies. If non-eudromaeosaurian dromaeosaurids are engaging in extensive fish-eating, then would the shift to </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">eudromaeosaurs</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> be a shift from fish-eating to macropredation, similar what's seen in some birds and marine mammals? Certainly there are a lot of interesting perspectives to think about going forward.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">This was a short post but I hope it'll help everyone realize just how bizarre and fascinating this new little theropod is. I hope it and its relatives get a lot of love and attention from theropod workers, and hopefully new members of its subfamily will start popping up now that people know what to be on the lookout for.<br /><br />Until next time, stay sharp!</span></div>
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Tristan Stockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13007322806054653960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7121600678088328777.post-89778098678943613182017-08-27T19:27:00.001-07:002017-08-27T22:15:41.923-07:00SVP 2017 - Day 4And now for the final day at SVP 2017.<br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-style: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><u><span style="font-size: large;">Morning Session</span></u></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Baron</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: Baron's not convinced by his own current classification of Ornithoscelida: actually thinks ornithischians are within Neotheropods or possibly Averostrans. (The world’s gone mad!)</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Baron</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: New data on </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Pisanosaurus</i> has it </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">as a silesaurid in their analyses: actually supports his idea that they're averostrans as that would mean we shouldn't find Triassic ornithischians at all as they would have to originate in the early Jurassic. (The same time we start finding the earliest </span>averostrans.)</div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Baron</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: Ceratosaurs show close similarities to ornithischians, such as the form of the illium, the shape of the femoral head, and their vertebrae. </span><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Some ceratosaurs even have ossified tendons in their back vertebrae, a feature typically associated with ornithischians.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Baron</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Chilesaurus </i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">comes up as a ornithischian in their phylogeny. They got criticism as they didn't include any</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> derived tetanurans in their analysis, but the original </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Chilesaurus </i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">paper lacked any ornithischians for it to group with either. They're going to add more derived taxa in future phylogenies to better test this, as well as fix and increase their character list to see how things change.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-weight: 400;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline;">Baron</span><span style="vertical-align: baseline;">: If Baron's right, this would mean that any "theropod" that isn't an Averostran (Coelophysis, Dilophosaurus, Tawa, etc) aren't theropods, as the definition of theropod is anything closer to <i>Passer</i>/<i>Allosaurus </i>than <i>Triceratops</i> and <i>Diplodocus</i>, and they'd be from before the <i>Allosaurus</i>-<i>Triceratops </i>split. Instead they'd be proto-</span></span></span>Ornithoscelidans<span style="color: black; font-weight: 400;">.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Regalado Fernández</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: "Prosauropods" are still paraphyletic, but different nodes form independent monophyletic families that are pending descriptions/naming. Suggests numerous monophyletic groups of sauropodomorphs rather than a single lineage leading to sauropods.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>Regalado Fernández</b><span style="vertical-align: baseline;">: </span>Phylogeny suggests that quadrupedality arose twice within sauropodomorphs: within the riojasauridae (which is getting expanded) and Anchisauria.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Holwerda</b><i style="font-weight: 400;">: </i><span style="font-weight: 400;">New updated phylogeny on basal sauropods has </span><i style="font-weight: 400;">Patagosaurus </i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">is sister to </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Cetiosaurus</i>, an interesting discovery as the mid-Jurassic Gondwanan desert was often thought to be a barrier to north-south dinosaur taxa.</span></span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Moore</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: New phylogeny shows mamenchisaurids are a natural group, but </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Omeisaurus </i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">comes up as the basal-most diplodocoid. Weird.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>Waskow</b>: Mother’s Day Quarry diplodocid specimens come from extremely small adult diplodocids. Seems to represent a population of Morrison diplodocids trapped on an island in the middle of the Sundance Sea, though this is debatable given that no large islands are known from the Sundance. Shows that diplodocids also underwent dwarfism like some macronarians. </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>Waskow</b>: Long bone histology suggests that they reached skeletal and sexual maturity at the same time as other much larger diplodocids, but that they grew at a much slower rate.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Bansal</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: Sauropod ossified tendons in the neck were flexible enough to allow for movement, but stiff enough to support the weight of the n</span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">eck. Future analyses of how these ossified tendons work structurally in the neck could give new insight to their biomechanics.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Button</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: Morphospace analyses of the lower jaws of herbivorous dinosaurs reveals repeated trends in dinosaur skull shape evolution, suggesting specializations in different gut-processing herbivorous taxa. However, while (traditional) saurischians had a large disparity in skull shape, ornithischians all tended to cluster in the same area of the diagram. This suggests that while non-chewing saurischian taxa needed to modify the shape of the jaw to feed on specific types of plants, ornithischians could feed on their wide range of food types via chewing without the need to modify their jaws.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Nabahvizadeh</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: Jaw muscles in palatal-feeding ornithischians connected from underneath the jugal to the lateral dentary ridge. This brings the jaw musculature attachment further forwards on the dentar, and is a trait seen in some modern palatal-feeding lizards and extinct dicynodonts. Also implies that many palatal-feeding ornithischians might have had stronger bite forces than expected.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Godefroit</b>: </span><i style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-weight: 400; white-space: pre-wrap;">Kulindadromeus </i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">is a thing. Analysis of filaments show numerous similarities with those of </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Sinosauropteryx</i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Support a homology with feathers.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Godefroit</b>:<b> </b><i>Kulindadromeus </i>is the oldest dinosaur with feathers: the quarry is Aalenian-Bathonian rather than Oxfordian. Earliest known feathers occur on an ornithischian.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Bell</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: Numerous small ornithischians from Lighting Ridge. </span><span style="font-weight: 400; white-space: pre-wrap;">One tooth represents a large <i>Muttaburrasaurus</i>-like taxon: tooth ridges are very similar to that taxa. Another l</span><span style="font-weight: 400; white-space: pre-wrap;">arge iguanodontian skeleton from Lightning Ridge represents one of the most complete iguanodontians from the continent. Might be same taxa as the tooth, but the front-half and jawline of the skull from the new specimen is missing, so impossible to tell..</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Bell</b><span style="vertical-align: baseline;">: </span>Two more small-bodied taxa represented by limb bones and jaw fragments.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Bell</b><span style="vertical-align: baseline;">: </span>New dating analyses find Lightning Ridge to be late Cretaceous (Cenomanian, 96 mya).</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Wilson</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: “Rubeosaurus” is a junior synonym of</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i> Styracosaurus ovatus</i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Holotype bones are misidentified.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-style: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Fowler</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: “Dannyceratops” (not official name, name of quarry) represents the earliest known of chasmosaurine taxon. Shows a lot of synapomorphies not seen in later taxa.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Fowler</b>: <i style="font-weight: 400;">“Judiceratops tigris”</i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> has a lot of issues in terms of supposed phylogenetic relationships and form of the frill. Should be re-analyzed as the frill fragments don't fit well together like other ceratopsians, so they might be misidentified.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Zheng</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: New basal ankylosaurine dinosaur with an elongate nodosaur-like snout and a large tail club from Eastern China. Shows a strange mix of both basal and derived features.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Arbour</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: <i>Zuul! Zuul</i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">’s tail club osteoderms are asymmetrical. Ankylosaur tail club knobs are actually quite taxonomically distinct and have good characters for phylogenies. Might suggest sexual selection was heavily at play in ankylosaurs tail club evolution.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Arbour</b><span style="vertical-align: baseline;">: </span><i>Zuul </i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">has lots of skin and keratinous sheath preservation over the osteoderms. Skin is similar to other ankylosaurs: keratin sheaths are so well preserved you can see growth rings like you might see on a cow's horns.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Arbour</b><span style="vertical-align: baseline;">:<i> </i></span><i>Zuul </i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">#2! Second </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Zuul </i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">specimen from a smaller individual found in collections. Despite being only slightly smaller, it has an unfused postorbital horn, something typically seen in very young ankylosaurs. Rest of the specimen might be at the </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Zuul </i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">quarry.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Brown</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: <i>Borealopelta </i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">has really thick keratinous sheets over its bony armor. Keratin reaches out way past the bony cores. Suggests we might be severely underestimating the size of nodosaur spikes (and keep reading).</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Brown</b><span style="vertical-align: baseline;">: </span>Longest disparity of bony osteoderms size vs keratin length and width takes place on the cervicals. The keratin-to-osteoderm ratio is strictly allometric, the longer the induvidual bony spines of the osteoderms, the longer in proportion the keratinous sheet that covers it. Rough length of the keratinous sheets in </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Borealopelta </i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">can be determined via an equation. (Maybe could also be used for other ankylosaurs?)</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Brown</b><span style="vertical-align: baseline;">: </span>There's one exception to the above rule: the parascapular spine is much, much larger than determined by the equation. The keratinous sheet is many degrees larger than those on any of the other osteoderms, and a cross-section through the spine shows the largest bony osteoderm on </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Borealopelta </i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">as a tiny little circle within the thick keratinous covering.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Brown</b><span style="vertical-align: baseline;">: </span>The allometric levels in the osteoderm-keratin length is consistent with a sociosexual display features (like horns and antlers) rather than defensive features like anti-predator spines. Supports the idea that nodosaur spines were involved in (and perhaps the evolution of which was primarily driven by) sexual selection.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;">Poster Session</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Brougham</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: Two new theropods from Lightning Ridge. One is vertebral and pelvic material from a large carcharodontosaurian taxa, the other is vertebrae from a small-bodied ceolurosaurian taxa. Neither groups show synapomorphies shared with megaraptorans, suggesting a larger diversity of theropod groups were present in the late Cretaceous of Australia.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-weight: 700; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Lockley</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: Trackways from the Kayenta Sandtone near Moab, Utah show strict differentiation between ichnotaxa. One site area is associated with an exclusively </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Eubrontes-Kayentapus</i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> fauna representing exclusively large theropods. Site nearby but in the same layer shows </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Anomoepus-Otozoum</i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> ichnofauna representative of exclusively herbivorous dinosaur taxa. Suggests differences in habitat preferences between herbivorous and carnivorous dinosaur groups at these locations.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Simon</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: New species of small-bodied </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Fumicollis</i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">-like hesperornithine from the Hell Creek formation. It's from the Bone Butte region (same location as the </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Dakotaraptor </i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">holotype).</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;">Afternoon Session</span></span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Berrett</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: Reanalysis of the </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Vulcanodon </i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Quarry suggests the site is actually Hettagian or Sinemurian in age, making it much older than originally thought.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Berrett</b><span style="font-weight: 400; vertical-align: baseline;">: </span>First phytosaur from Gondwana found in some older Triassic sites nearby. These new sites are filled with wood and has giant lungfish teeth the size of a human hand. Seems like a densely wooded environment similar to the petrified forest in the Chinle.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Berrett</b><span style="vertical-align: baseline;">: </span>Interestingly, the new site preserves no evidence of sauropodomorph dinosaurs, despite being known from drier layers below and above it. This as well as the near-absence of early sauropodomorphs from Triassic sites representing </span>well-watered forests <span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">might signify that they specifically avoided these kinds of habitats.</span></span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Smith</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: New material from the holotype specimen of </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Cryolophosaurus</i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, as well as a second specimen that’s quite a bit larger. Sadly the larger specimen is very fragmentary.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Smith</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: Braincase allows for a good reconstruction of the neural anatomy. Dorsal vertebrae have little “bow tie” formations on the neural spines: very cute.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Smith</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: New phylogeny suggests </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Cryolophosaurus </i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">is the sister taxa to </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Dilophosaurus </i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">in (interestingly) a monophyletic coelophysoidea.</span></span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Fabbri</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: All the bones in the Ibrahim "neotype" specimen of </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Spinosaurus </i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">are incredibly dense. Also, all are of the same ontogenetic age: subadult 17 years old. Is against the idea of this specimen being a chimera.</span></span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Fabbri</b><span style="vertical-align: baseline;">: </span>Ibrahim's </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Spinosaurus </i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">has incredibly dense bones, and the density levels of </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Spinosaurus </i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">bones clusters strongly with semi-aquatic birds and alligators, not with terrestrial birds and other theropods.</span></span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Fabbri</b><span style="vertical-align: baseline;">: </span><i>Suchomimus </i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">shows up on the graph as having very dense bone, intermediate between “normal” theropods and subadult crocodilians</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Still had an open medullary cavity, but the bone is densening. Suggests spinosaurids other than </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Spinosaurus </i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">might have already been experimenting with aquatic behaviors.</span></span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Fabbri</b><span style="vertical-align: baseline;">: </span>Juvenile animals have less dense bones than adult ones. A juvenile specimen of </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Suchomimus </i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">clusters with birds, theropods, and baby crocodilians while the adult/subadult </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Suchomimus </i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">clusters in its intermediate spot. Similarly, while the subadult specimen of Ibrahim’s Spinosaurus groups with subadult alligators, larger isolated neural spines from elsewhere in Africa are even denser and cluster further into the center of aquatic taxa.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Fabbri</b><span style="vertical-align: baseline;">: </span>Peramorphosis is involved in the evolution of spinosaurid skulls: shows numerous similarities in the changes to the skull bones to the evolution of bird beaks.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Samathi</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: Two new species of megaraptorans. Taxon A is shorter than a man and only known from a tibia. Taxon B is known from limb elements and vertebrae from both an adult and juvenile individual. Adult is about human-height, juvenile the height of coyote. </span><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When plugged into a number of existing phylogenies these new taxa come up as close relatives of </span><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Australovenator</i> no matter which is used</span><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. The phylogenies also find </span><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Datanglong </i></span><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">to be a megaraptoran and </span><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Siamotyrannus </i></span><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">to nest within early coelurosaurs.</span></span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Bykowski</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: Homogenous global data set suggests that carnivorous dinosaurs were not responding to changes in prey body size. Instead, taxonomic turnover is driving morphological changes in different groups.</span></span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Fiorillo</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: Alaskan dinosaur trackways from along a forested shoreline. Lots of hadrosaur tracks, a few ankylosaur tracks, some theropod tracks, and a crane-sized avian track all from the same locality. No ceratopsids, despite being very common from fossil sites on the north slope.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Tanaka</b><span style="vertical-align: baseline;">: </span>We know that polar dinosaurs (like hadrosaurs) would often would breed in the high arctic given the presence of eggshells. In order to incubate their eggs, they probably utilized rotting vegitation in nest mounds.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Tanaka</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: Hadrosaurs and sauropods of the megaloolithidae egg family preferred mound nests. Sauropods of the faveloolithidae egg family preferred buried or geothermal nests.</span></span></div>
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<span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">And now, SVP 2017 has come to an end. Really sad that I had to leave and return to the hectic life that is undergrad. Nonetheless, I'm happy I was able to meet back up with my friends from last year's meeting, as well as make a bunch of new ones, and I can't wait for the opportunity to go again next year.</span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span><i style="font-size: x-small;">(Assuming money won't be a problem.)</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Until next time, thanks for another great event everyone! Keep Vertebrate Paleontology cool! Go SVP!
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Tristan Stockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13007322806054653960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7121600678088328777.post-86582820729355224302017-08-25T22:42:00.001-07:002017-08-28T09:23:23.958-07:00SVP 2017 - Day 3<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;">
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<span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">And now for the third day at the Society of Vertebrate paleontology. Apologies as this post is a bit shorter than the others due to a large number of the talks I attended being either embargoed. Take that as meaning that there's a lot of really amazing secret papers getting published soon. ;)</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-style: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-weight: 700;"><u><span style="font-size: large;">Morning Sessions</span></u></span></span></div>
<b id="docs-internal-guid-989ce079-1cc0-c16e-4a0c-edff6da33d48" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Herrera-Flores</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: The rates of different morphological tooth and jaw forms in squamates change over time, but the highest diversity of tooth forms didn't appear until the late Cretaceous.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Herrera-Flores</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: Mosasauroids possess the largest disparity of tooth and jaw forms of all squamate groups tested. Suggests they utilized a wider range of feeding methods than seen in modern lizards.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Campbell Mekaraki</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: Throughout history there have been lots of phylogenies of the induvidual families/groups of pythonomorphs (mosasaurs, snakes, aigialosaurs, and dolichosaur), but few if any studies looking at all pythonomorphs together, which causes some confusion about how they’re all related to each other and whether the groups are actually natural. This is one of the first phylogenies putting all the groups together, but s</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">adly since the character list largely stemmed from specific pythonomorph group characters, the phylogenies were not able to accurately determine with high certainty the relationships of all the </span><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">different </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">taxa. Further studies need to find more robust characters to better determine relationships.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Campbell Mekaraki</b>: Nonetheless, despite high uncertainty, a number of common trends appeared in the </span><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">phylogeny</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Mosasauroids showed up as polyphyletic, with russelosaurines and mosasaurines being giant </span><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">aigialosaurs </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">which independently evolved open-ocean aquatic adaptations and gigantic size (something also seen in other studies). Dolichosaurs might also be polyphyletic, though many taxa also group together within aglialosaurs, although one unnamed dolichosaur taxa fell consistently within derived tylosaurines. (This specimen is apparently notorious for doing this in phylogenies.)</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Campbell Mekaraki</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: This phylogeny found two positions for snakes. Option one has them as the sister group to mosasaurines and mosasaurine-line agilosaurs, meaning that they're </span><span style="font-size: small; white-space: pre-wrap;">aigialosaurs </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><i>and </i></b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">mosasauroids. The second option shows them splitting off from the new mosasauroid + </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">aigialosaurs + dolichosaur group. </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">The former seems less likely.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Augusta</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Dolichosaurus </i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">falls within the genus in </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Coniasaurus </i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">in recent phylogenies, suggesting it should be synonymized. This is a problem because the two genus were named in the same year and same publication by the same author on the same page, so you could choose either as the owner of the new name as ICZN rules don't apply. Authors propose sinking </span><i style="font-size: 12pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">Dolichosaurus</i><span style="font-size: 12pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and keeping </span><i style="font-size: 12pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">Coniasaurus</i><span style="font-size: 12pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"> as the latter has a larger number of papers dedicated to it, as well as more species in its genus.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Papparella</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: Plesiopelvic (back-swept ilium) vs hydropelvic (forward-swept ilium) conditions in mosasauroids. The authors make a (rather controversial) claim that the forwards-oriented bone of the pelvic in hydropelvic mosasaurs often though to be the main illium shaft is actually derived from a separate projection of the illiu</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">m. </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Using a traditional phylogeny, this hydropelvic condition evolved at least 3 times independently in the group. </span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ramezani</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: New specimen of </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Buriolestes </i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">from Santa Maria with a complete 3D skull and complete braincase. This allowed for a good reconstruction of the endocast, which shows close similarities to other sauropodomorph dinosaurs.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><b>Ramezani</b></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: 400; vertical-align: baseline;">: </span>A new type of early dinosaur from the same region. Unsure about what exactly it is.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><b>Ramezani</b></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: 400; vertical-align: baseline;">: </span>New very well-preserved articulated herrerasaurid specimen still being prepared. Might be a new species.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><b>Ramezani</b></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: 400; vertical-align: baseline;">: </span>Janner Site of the Santa Maria formation has produced a specimen of a much larger sauropodomorph. Pending analysis. Might be new species.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b style="font-size: 12pt;">Ramezani</b><span style="font-size: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline;">: </span>Large block including 4 sauropodomorphs preserved together. Again, might be a new taxon.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Breeden</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: Unnamed silesaurid taxa fr</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">om the Hayden Quarry. Lots and lots of material has been found since the first specimen in 2007. Seems to be the same thing as </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Eucoelophysis</i>, and g</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">roups together with it in phylogenies.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Habib</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: Azhdarchids = “Giant awesome murder heads.”</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Habib</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: Albertan azhdarchid currently housed at the Royal Tyrrell museum was suggested to be </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Quetzalcoatlus</i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, but actually seems to be a new taxa. Represents a robust, short-necked pterosaur morphology otherwise only known from Romania, showing that this morphology is more widespread than thought. Will be named and described soon.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline;">Habib</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline;">: </span>Big heads of azhdarchids might seem to be bad at flight (tips forwards the center of mass, makes them front-heavy), however, they do create a major advantage for azhdarchids. Big heads allow better ability for pterosaurs to utilize "forward sweep," which is caused when the tilting of the forwards of the body causes the wings to flap in a more forwards-backwards pattern, moving air both over the wings and directing the air on the tip of the wings towards the body. This produces dynamic and powerful lift at the cost of some slight stability control, which azhdarchids could easily accommodate.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Mannion</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: Average completeness and number of species of crocodylomorphs is noticeably affected by extinction events, like the K-Pg extinction.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Drymala</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: New quadrupedal pseudosuchian taxa (NCSM 21722). Head sadly eroded away, but it eroded along the midline allowing for analysis of the internal structure of the skull. Has simple osteoderms along the back, tiny heart-shaped osteoderms along the underside of the tail, and elongate, slender osteoderms under the neck.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: 700;">Drymala</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline;">: </span>Possesses a semi-oposable reverse hallux on the underside of the forelimb. Unsure what this strange configuration is for: not known from close relatives. </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: 400; vertical-align: baseline;">Pops up as the </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline;">s</span>ister taxon to </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: 400; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Dromicosuchus</i></span><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: 400; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, which is from the same basin but a different layer.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Foffa</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: New specimen of a metriorhynchid (NHMUK PV OR 46797 - “the Melksham Monster”) possessing a deep and robust jaw and a poorly ornamented skull, both of which are unusual traits for middle Jurassic metrioryhnchids.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Teeth also very closely resembles <i>Geosaurus</i>, and falls as a sister taxon to that genus, making it the earliest known member of Geosaurini and the earliest macropredatory metrioryhnchid.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Voegele</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: Partially articulated juvenile </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Thoracosaurus </i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">found in a marine environment. Preserved cell and microstructure tissue.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Hastings</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: High reptile diversity from a m</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">iocene marine faunal deposit in Virginia. </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Five adult </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Palaeophis virginianus</i></span><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> vertebrae; </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">41 crocodilian teeth, vertebrae, and large osteoderms (seems to come from </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Thecachampsa</i>,</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> one tooth suggests a large animal in excess of 5 meters); and r</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">epresentatives of the main modern sea turtle branches are present.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Lichtig</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: Turtle trackways are very distinctive due to their awkward gait. The earliest known turtle trackways predate the earliest known turtle fossils by many millions of years and could be used to determine the evolutionary history of turtle gait.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Wu</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: Two new skulls of </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>‘Tomistoma’ petrolica</i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> allowed for a better understanding of its skull morphology, as well as comparison with the modern </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Tomistoma schlegelii</i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> to find out its phylogenetic position. Phylogeny does not support a sister relationship between this taxa and the modern type species, presenting the need to erect a new genus.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;">Poster Sessions</span></span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Ryan</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: New centrosaurine ceratopsid from the Upper Oldman Formation. Phylogeny has the taxon come up as the sister to </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Coronosaurus</i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Mallon</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: Ankylosaurs in North American ecosystems are frequently found in upside-down positions (70% of cases). The high rate of flipped-over specimens seems to be due to water transportation of dead individuals and bloating on the surface of the water during decomposition. While bloating, their heavy osteoderms (and in ankylosaurids, heavy tail clubs) leads to specimens flipping over while ballooning across the surface of the water. This is also consistent with depositional environments: ankylosaurs in Asia are often found preserved in dry regions, and thus are preserved upright without the high rates of flipped specimens. This is also similar to the high flipped rates seen in preserved glyptodont shells, which presumably also were transported by water and bloated before flipping.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Heckert</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: Smallest known aetosaur specimen. Might be a hatchling. Shows that juveniles have much more elongate and gracile limbs than adults, and that the osteoderms are present but not fully ossified.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Vinther</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: <i>Borealopelta </i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">shows counter-shading levels consistent with open habitat preference. This makes sense given both the coastal environments of Laramidia at the time and the fact that the shoulder spikes and wide builds of many nodosaurs would have made it difficult to traverse dense forests.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Laing</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: New shuvusaurid taxa from the Hayden Quarry in the Chinle formation. Doubles the diversity of shuvusaurids at the time and shows early crocodilians filled bipedal herbivorous niches before many dinosaurs (like ornithischians).</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;">Afternoon Sessions</span></span></div>
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<span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Kundrat</b>: First known case of alvarezsaurid eggshells and associated skeletal remains from the northern hemisphere. The chinese fossils shows an eggshell microstructure different from other known </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: 400;">alvarezsaurid eggs and suggests northern hemisphere </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: 400;">alvarezsaurids had different types of eggs than the larger southern hemisphere members with eggs preserved.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Funston</b>: New oviraptorids. Specimens poached. Has a large crest composed of the nasal and prefrontal bones. 3rd digit is highly reduced while the first digit is very enlarged, a trend seen in other oviraptorids.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b style="font-size: 12pt;">Funston</b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">: </span>Another separate specimen is extremely small, has an unfused braincase and an unfused pygostyle. Despite this, it still has a rather large crest present. In the same pose as the three from the same block.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b style="font-size: 12pt;">Funston</b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">: </span>Fifth specimen is an adult. Has a fused pygostyle.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b style="font-size: 12pt;">Funston</b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">: </span>Smallest specimen is 33kg and the adult is 74kg. </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">All the juvenile specimens are sitting in a sleeping position like <i>Mei</i>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b style="font-size: 12pt;">Funston</b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">: </span>Sleeping individuals buried in a flood, not a sandstorm or “red beds” environment. Did not seem to be killed by a flood though: probably killed by exposure and buried by water later. S</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">uggests communal roosting might be a basal trait for pennaraptorans.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b style="font-size: 12pt;">Funston</b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">: </span>Bad news for lumpers: even young oviraptorid individuals for this species have large, well-developed crests. Suggests species of oviraptorids known from only juveniles that lack crests actually do come from taxa that are crestless when mature.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Torices</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: Differently-shaped denticles in theropods suggest different dietary and tearing methods in different taxa. This analysis was used to determine how denticles affect tooth strength/shape.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b style="font-size: 12pt;">Torices</b><span style="font-size: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline;">: </span>Microwear shows that pretty much all predatory non-avian theropods are good at a “grip and rip” feeding styles, but different groups are better than others when it comes to stresses. </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Troodontid teeth and denticles are really bad at taking on stresses, </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Saurornitholestes </i></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">is moderately good, and </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Dromaeosaurus </i></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">is extremely good at absorbing stresses. </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">This suggests that although all are of similar in body builds, troodontids were limited to feeding on small and/or soft pretty that couldn't fight back, <i>Saurornitholestes </i>were focused on medium-sized but still rather soft prey, and <i>Dromaeosaurus </i>was focusing on tougher, larger prey that puts up a fight.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Xing</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: Ossification rates in the sternum of small dromaeosaurids can be used to determine ontogenetic stages. Species with arboreal and gliding/volant habits might have developed ossifications earlier.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">And there you have it. Tomorrow's the last day of SVP, and while I'll try to get another blog post out tomorrow night, I need to go to the dinner reception and prepare for an early flight the next morning, so final entry might get pushed back. Until next time, root for this poor little chelonian to escape the jaws of the </span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #1d2129;"><i>Protosphyraena</i>. Cheers!</span></span></span></div>
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Tristan Stockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13007322806054653960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7121600678088328777.post-38575948496540968752017-08-24T23:31:00.000-07:002017-08-27T19:56:38.125-07:00SVP 2017 - Day 2And day two begins! Same as before: wrote down everything I could in blurbs based on section, left out embargo stuff, and if you have any questions feel free to ask. Let us commence!<br />
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;">Morning Session</span></span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Dunne</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: New biodiversity analysis of early tetrapods suggests that species richness and alpha diversity increased dramatically across the Late Carboniferous-Early Permian Boundary.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Dunne</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: Contrary to earlier studies which suggested that the fragmentation of Carboniferous rainforests during the Permian led to increased endemism in tetrapods, this analysis found that many species and families became more cosmopolitan as the rainforest fragmented.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Mann</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: New “specimen” of a microsaur from Mason Creek from a period of time with low microsaur diversity. It is the smallest microsaur known: only about a cm in body length. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>(I say “specimen” in quotes because they don't actually have the fossils of this animal: they only have latex casts of it from when it was first collected. The actual specimen is lost and probably being held by a private collector.)</i></span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b style="font-size: 12pt;">Mann</b><span style="font-size: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline;">: </span>Phylogenetic analysis suggests it to be a sister taxon of the </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Carrola </i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">+</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Batropetes </i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">clade in the family brachystelechidae.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b style="font-size: 12pt;">Mann</b><span style="font-size: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline;">: </span>Brachystelechids like this new taxon show wide-set rib morphologies and well-ossified forelimb bones, which is consistent with a terrestrial and possibly fossorial lifestyle (though see below), not an aquatic one. Their short, compact bodied suggest that they had a different overall lifestyle than other microsaurs.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b style="font-size: 12pt;">Mann</b><span style="font-size: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline;">: </span>Some brachystelechid features, such as a wide-set gut, foreshortened and ossified skull, and multi-cusp dentition (which resembles marine iguanas) resemble traits in herbivorous taxa. Might suggest they were herbivorous algae or moss-feeders.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Gee: </b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">New specimens of </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Llistrofus </i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">skulls, one 3D upper jaw and mandible, the other a crushed full skull with scale preservation.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b style="font-size: 12pt;">Gee: </b>The skull has an enlarged mandible and is much more robust than other related taxa, but teeth are otherwise typical for the group. This is not consistent with a tougher durophagous diet,a dn the authors suggest this enlargement of the skull bones is consistent with a streamlining of the skull and musculature for a head-digging fossorial lifestyle.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Jansen</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: Batropetes has been suggested to be fossorial (see above), but it possesses a narrow (not shovel-like hand), large forward-facing orbits, and other features not consistent with fossorial behavior in modern tetrapods and other thought to be burrowing microsaurs. Instead this anatomy might be more consistent with a leaf litter foraging lifestyle.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Jansen</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: The earliest known frogs like T. massinoti might have had a more leaf litter foraging lifestyle rather than a frog-like lifestyle based on comparison with modern salamanders and other microsaurs known to be foragers. Further analyses of limb proportions and morphologies could shed light on early amphibian and temnospondyl ecology.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Bishop</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: Orientation of cancellous bone architecture lines in animal femurs is an accurate way to determine leg posture in extinct animals. Lines always grow perpendicular to the ground, so the leg's neutral state is determinable by looking at their orientation.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b style="font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal;">Bishop</b><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">: </span><i>Daspletosaurus </i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">has a femur perpendicular to the ground, troodontids had a slightly angled leg to the ground, and modern birds tested positive for having a perpendicular leg to the ground, all of which are consistent with biomechanical studies.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b style="font-size: 12pt;">Bishop</b><span style="font-size: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline;">: </span>Further analyses of cancellous bone could be used to learn the neutral leg postures of other extinct animals, like therizinosaurs and ceratopsians.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Martin</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: Not all pterosaurs have thin-walled bones: many pterosaurs have thick-walled bones like non-avian theropods. Thickness of the wing bones has no phylogenetic consistency either to the family level or even to pterosaurs as a group. However, </span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b style="font-size: 12pt;">Martin</b><span style="font-size: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline;">: </span>Smaller pterosaurs tend to have a lower R/t (radius to thickness ratio) which is consistent with them having resistance to frequent landings and takeoffs like small-bodied flying taxa. Larger pterosaurs have very high R/t levels which is consistent with long periods in the air, which is consistent with large flying taxa.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b style="font-size: 12pt;">Martin</b><span style="font-size: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline;">: </span>The one outlier in this study was </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Hatzegopteryx</i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, which has the thickest bones of any known pterosaur. This is consistent with the idea that it was spending long periods on the ground as a terrestrial macropredator. More bones from other giant pterosaurs should show if </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Hatzegopteryx </i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">is unique or if these thick bones is consistent across all taxa.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Larson</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Varanus </i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">lizard tooth morphology is very similar in variation to what’s seen in ceolurosaurs dinosaurs, and can be used to figure out the dietary preferences of theropods.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b style="font-size: 12pt;">Larson</b><span style="font-size: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline;">: </span>This study also found 4 significant shifts in Vranus lizard diets throughout their recent evolutionary history to terrestrial vertebrates.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b style="font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal;">Larson</b><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">: </span><i>Yanornis </i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">possesses an insectivorous/aquatic tooth morphology (consistent with gut content), while </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Guanlong </i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">groups with </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Varanus </i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">taxa that hunt large vertebrates.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b style="font-size: 12pt;">Larson</b><span style="font-size: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline;">:<i> </i></span><i>Microraptor </i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">groups consistently with piscivorous aquatic-feeding taxa, which is consistent with the fish found in its gut. Other dromaeosaurids group with predators of large terrestrial vertebrates, as does </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Sinosauropteryx </i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">and </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Incisovosaurus</i></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. The latter might be due to a lack of herbivorous taxa in the dataset, but the tooth morphology of <i>Sinosauropteryx</i> might suggest it tackled larger prey than might be expected.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Simoes</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: Some “early lepidosaurimorphs” actually fall as the early members of other classes, while other “early lepidosauromorph” taxa are true lepidosauromorphs..</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Carrillo</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: Notoungulats are nested within laurasiatheres (stuff later this week contradicts this).</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>MacDougall</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: Tetrapod diversity of the Richard Spur quarry in Oklahoma shows a high small animal diversity/low large animal diversity ratio seen in modern ecosystems, and is distinct from other early Permian preservationists environments. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Captorhinus </i>is </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">the most common taxa in this terrestrial environment.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Jung</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: The genus </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Captorhinikos </i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">is paraphyletic. All three species are related to completely different taxa. Only the holotype species </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>C. valensis</i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> is </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Captorhinikos</i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>“C. parvus”</i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> is sister to </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Saurorictus</i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, and </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>“C. chozaensis”</i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> is many nodes more basal than </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>C. valensis</i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;">Poster Session</span></span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Super</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: Baby </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Xiphactinus </i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">specimen! One of only two juvenile specimens of this species ever found. The rarity and isolated locations of the two </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Xiphactinus </i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">juveniles suggests like modern large predatory bony fish, juveniles were solitary and lived in warm waters close shore while adults switched to a schooling lifestyle when they matured and moved out into the open ocean.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Gage</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: Analyses of the forelimb humeri in theropods using morphometric data suggests that forelimb robustness scales with preferred prey size, not absolute size, in theropods. Taxa with very robust humeri like megaraptorans probably preferred hunting animals larger than themselves when compared to taxa with shorter forelimbs. Taxa with primarily head-based predation of course are exceptions/outliers.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Takasaki</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: Preliminary analyses of gastroliths in modern birds has shown that gastrolith shape correlates well with diet, with rounded gastroliths being consistent with herbivorous taxa and angular gastroliths being consistent with carnivorous taxa. When applied to </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Deinocheirus</i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, despite the presence of fish bones in the gut, the gastrolith shape is consistent with a primarily herbivorous diet, suggesting </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Deinocheirus </i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">was primarily herbivorous with fish representing only a minority of its diet.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Trapman</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: Stable isotope analysis of four </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Spinosaurus </i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">teeth and four </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Carcharodontosaurus </i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">teeth was used to check earlier studies using oxygen isotopes of spinosaurid teeth to determine aquatic behavior. The study was able to successfully repeat the results of the first study with all eight teeth, further supporting spinosaurid aquatic foraging.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Rooney</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: Postcranial morphology can be used as a reliable indicator of semiaquatic vs terrestrial behavior in crocodylomorphs and lepidosaurs, even between closely related taxa. Reliable indicators of lifestyle include the length of the upper limb bones compared to the lower ones as well as the height of the caudal vertebrae. When extinct crocodylomorphs are added they fit in snugly with predicted morphospecies, which is good and could be used as a method to determine terrestrial vs aquatic behaviors in the group.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Rooney</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: One surprise was that when </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Hesperosuchus </i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">was placed into the morphology it popped up within the semi-aquatic group, but right on the edge of the terrestrial group. Might suggest hesperosuchids might have already been experimenting with a semi-aquatic lifestyle.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Lawver</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: New species of turtle from the Judith River Formation. Size of the scapula suggests an animal with a half-meter shell. Shape of the carapace is weird: dorsal side of the shell is similar to terrestrial taxa while the central side is similar to aquatic taxa. Overall, this taxa is a new and bizarre addition to the rich turtle fauna of the region.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Jasinski</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: New species of dromaeosaurid from the end of the Maastrichtian of New Mexico. Specimen preserves quill knobs on the forelimb consistent with secondary feathers. Phylogeny finds the taxa to be less derived than </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Deinonychus</i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, suggesting a second lineage of dromaeosaurine theropods in the Maastrichtian of North America outside of </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Dakotaraptor</i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>?????</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: CT scans of the internal structure of </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Bistahieversor</i>’s<i> </i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">endocast shows that it had a large sinuses and an endocast cavity convergent in morphology with </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Tyrannosaurus rex</i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. It also has a large airsacs and an overall skull build much more similar to derived tyrannosaurines than basal members of the group.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-style: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><u>Afternoon Session</u></b></span></span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Sullivan</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: <i>Jehelornis </i> specimens </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">have an odd bone present near the sternum which is oar-shaped and has a large round fenestra in its center. This bone is often identified to be lateral trabecula, which is bizarre because even more derived birds lack this trait until close to the enanthiornithine-neornothine split (though </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: 400; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Linheraptor </i>seems to possess a lateral trabecula-like structure as well).</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b style="font-size: 12pt;">Sullivan</b><span style="font-size: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline;">: </span>This odd bone's “lateral trabecula” identity doesn't seem to be accurate, and new specimens show that it is actually part of the 3rd and 4th sternal ribs.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b style="font-size: 12pt;">Sullivan</b><span style="font-size: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline;">: </span>No living animal has a sternal rib morphology like this, but it is very similar to enlarged bony structures seen on the ribs of some pterosaurs. In pterosaurs it's been suggested that these traits evolved help with respiratory musculature, and if this is used for the same reason, would suggest that </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Jehelornis </i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">had an interesting way of breathing.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Rashid</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: Studies of caudal vertebrae fusion in chickens and mice of has suggested that vertebral fusion of the pygosytle is tied to a genetic mutation that also results in the loss of caudal nerves. This doesn't seem to be correct however as many bird groups, like paleognaths and Confuciuornis, have fused tail vertebrae but still possess caudal nerves.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Rashid</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: Pygostyles do not fuse until well into ontogeny in living birds. Suggests that some juvenile bird specimens named as new species due to the lack of a pygostyle are likely to just be juveniles of known taxa.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Rashid</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: Dinosaur tail in amber, being made up of unfused vertebrae, might not be non-avian with the information showing that bird pygostyles do not fuse until late in ontogeny.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Wang</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: New enanthiornithine bird with preserved feathers. The specimen is odd in that it possesses a plough-shaped, modern bird-like pygostyle, but lacks a tail fan, suggesting that the tail fan is not exclusively linked to modern-type pygostyles.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b style="font-size: 12pt;">Wang</b><span style="font-size: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline;">: </span>Has really weird feathers on the legs. Seem to be single sheets of keratin that are sausage-shaped, but have splayed tips. Melanosome evidence also suggest they were brightly colored.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>McNamara</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: <i>Kulindadromeus </i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">has melanosome preservation! (Color study!?)</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Serrano</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: Mechanical and aerodynamic features of </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Protopteryx </i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">suggest it was a fast flap-glider. Given it is one of the basalmost enanthornithines, this might have been the ancestral flight state for the group.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>O'Connor</b>:<b> </b><i style="font-weight: 400;">Jehelornis</i> seems to </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">lack a crop and based on the lack of seeds in the neck region of any known specimen. Interestingly, many specimens of </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Jehelornis </i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">have seeds and gastroliths in the stomach, but none have both. Could imply a shift in diet over the course of a year, through ontogeny, or another unknown reason.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b style="font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal;">O'Connor</b><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal;">:</span><b style="font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal;"> </b><i>Confuciusornis </i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">does not seem to be a piscivore. The specimen with fish remains in its neck region seems to have been from an association. (Jehol Biota is full of fish, not surprising bits and pieces of them appear close to other fossil taxa.)</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b style="font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal;">O'Connor</b><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal;">:</span><b style="font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal;"> </b><i>Sapeornis </i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">possesses a true crop and gizzard based on seed remains in both the neck and stomach region.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b style="font-size: 12pt;">O'Connor</b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">:</span><b style="font-size: 12pt;"> </b>Enanthiornithines are very problematic in their diets, as inferred pellets from this group that contain fish seem to actually be coprolites from fish or aquatic reptiles.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b style="font-size: 12pt;">O'Connor</b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">:</span><b style="font-size: 12pt;"> </b>“Seeds” in enanthiorithine guts are also highly problematic. They always appear on the left side of the body, where follicles and eggs should be, not the stomach, and overall resemble bird follicles in shape and morphology rather than seeds. (On the bright side, we can now tell if some enanthiornithine specimens are females!)</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b style="font-size: 12pt;">O'Connor</b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">:</span><b style="font-size: 12pt;"> </b>Half of all known specimens of </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Yanornis </i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">possess fish bones in the digestive tract, making the piscivorous lifestyle of this bird very certain. (Also leads to some doubt about <i>Confuciusornis </i>being a specialist piscivore based on just one specimen with a fish bone near its neck.)</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b style="font-size: 12pt;">O'Connor</b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">:</span><b style="font-size: 12pt;"> </b>One specimen of </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Yanornis </i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">has rocks blocking the intestine, which is an intestinal issue found 1% of all modern shorebirds. Not evidence for gastroliths.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b style="font-size: 12pt;">O'Connor</b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">:</span><b style="font-size: 12pt;"> </b>Tooth morphological studies might be a better way to determine diet in early birds than stomach contents, as many groups actually have quite specialized and oddly shaped teeth. Even </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Archeopteryx </i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">which is often described as having “peg-like” simple teeth actually are quite weird when looked at from a morphological standpoint.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Field</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: New model proposes that the destruction of forest ecosystems during the K-T extinction is a large factor involved in the extinction of primarily arboreal enanthiornithines and the survival of ancestrally terrestrial neornithines.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b style="font-size: 12pt;">Field</b><span style="font-size: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline;">: </span>When forest ecosystems collapsed, enanthiornithines died out due to the loss of habitat, but primarily terrestrial neornithines were able to survive. Then when forest ecosystems recovered, niches opened up for higher landbirds to invade into arboreal niches, leading to the rapid evolution of literally hundreds of unrelated arboreal bird clades.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Felice</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: Bird clades with novel phenotypes, such as unique palatal morphology, head crests, and oddly-shaped beams have faster rates of evolution than bird clades without them. This is consistent with research on other animal groups, like mammals and non-avian dinosaurs.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Felice</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: Ancestral state reconstruction taking data from all bird group’s skull morphologies shows that the ancestral neornithine had a skull most similar to the passerine bird </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Vanga curvirostris</i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, the hook-billed vanga. Postcranial morphology of this hypothetical neornithine ancestor would need to be determined with postcranial ancestral state analyses.</span></div>
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<span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">And now I leave you with a picture of the skull of the world-famous baby <i>Chasmosaurus belli</i>. Cheers!</span></div>
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Tristan Stockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13007322806054653960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7121600678088328777.post-18396737140694074232017-08-23T22:14:00.001-07:002017-08-23T22:40:54.185-07:00SVP 2017 - Day 1<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">So, it's been a little under a year since I last posted on this blog (mostly because school and work exists), but I happen to be back at SVP this year and also just to happened to (again) make a big vast list of what I saw at the sessions and posters. Since I wrote so much content down I thought it should all go into my next blog post, and so that's what I'm doing. I'll report in on what happens the next two days as well so people can begin to dissect everything they can.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">As with before, I did not take notes during the sessions that are currently under embargo or anti-tweet policy, and as such nothing on those talks will be mentioned. If you want to read the abstracts of all the talks though, feel free to check them out <a href="http://vertpaleo.org/Annual-Meeting/SVP-2017-program-book-v6-Print-Ready-with-front-co.aspx">here</a>. Also note that while I did try to edit up all the text below, most were written down in blurbs, as that's just my note-taking style.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Hope these posts are of interest to everyone that wasn't able to attend the meeting!</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><u><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Morning Session</span></u></b></span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Danto</b>:</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Development in stem amniotes starts from the dorsal and ventral-most regions of the vertebrae, but in the basal most temnospondyls they start from paired ossification centers that grow together to form a disk. (<a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0152586">Paper</a>)</span></span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Curry</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Exaeretodon frenguellii</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> shows all forms of lamellar, parallel, and fibrolamellar bone, suggesting all forms of slow, moderate, and a little bit of fast growth respectively. LAGs present.</span></span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Curry</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Scaphonyx sanjuanensis</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> shows highly vascularized FL bone, fast growth, with a few transitions to slow-growing periods. Lacks secondary osteons. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Proterochampsa </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">is similar. LAGs present.</span></span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Curry</b>: </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Chanaresuchus </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">shows parallel-lamellar-zonal bone, moderate to fast growth. No fibrolamellar bone. LAGs present.</span></span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Curry</b>: </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sillosuchus</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Saurosuchus</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, and </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Trialestes </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">show densely vascularized bone that lack LAGs, suggests very fast growth. Similarly, E</span><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: 400; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">oraptor </span><span style="font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">shows highly vascularized FL bone with peripheral slowing and sparse secondary osteons, and </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: 400; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Herrerasaurus, Sanjuansaurus, </span><span style="font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">and </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: 400; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Eodromaeus </span><span style="font-weight: 400; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">also </span><span style="font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">have densely vascularized FL bone but lack any LAGs whatsoever.</span></span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Curry</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: Fibrolamellar bone tissue (consistent with fast growth) appears to be basal to archosauria.</span></span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Sander</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: Sauropods lack growth marks (LAGs) in their long bones until they reach far into sexual maturity, which makes them difficult to age. Very fast growth.</span></span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Sander</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: Stegosaurs and ankylosaurs show very well-developed growth marks. Ankylosaurs have characteristic structural fibers in both their osteoderms and long bones, which is unique among dinosaurs. Stegosaurs appear to be the slowest-growing dinosaurs given their size.</span></span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Sander</b>: </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ornithopods in general show moderately large medullary cavities with LAGs and hadrosaurs show heavy amounts of remodelling of bone. Ceratopsians are similar, but small taxa show little remodeling while big taxa show heavy remodeling.</span></span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Sander</b>: </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">More analyses of dinosaur bone morphology and histology can help us to identify even bone fragments to the family level.</span></span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Canoville</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: The distribution of medullary bone in birds is poorly understood. Analyses suggest that it is only sometimes preserved in the bones of the torso, but that the leg bones almost always contain it during pregnancy (however, see below).</span></span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Canoville</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: NMNS-VPDINO-2002-0901is a 3D preserved oviraptorosaur pelvic region which shows two eggs in the pelvic cavity, showing it was a pregnant female that died in its 9th year. Melladulary bone was not detected in this specimen despite clearly being a pregnant female, but endosteal lamellar bone (which is present in the specimen) could be used as a sustitute indicator that it was once present.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>O'keefe</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: Specimen of what seems to be a </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Dolichorhynchops </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">fetus’ flipper shows very fast intrauterine growth to 40% adult length at birth! (This is consistent with the Pregnant Poly Specimen at LANHM.) Adult bone is highly remodeled and doesn’t show this early developmental information..</span></span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b style="font-style: normal;">O'keefe</b><b><i>: </i></b><i>Dolichorhynchops </i>long </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">bones look a lot like penguin bones in overall shape morphology. Weird.</span></span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Larsson</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: Mutant mice with an extra gene involved in limb development produce mutants with forelimbs similar to what’s seen in early stem tetrapodomorphs with extra digits, like </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Acanthostega</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Mice with these mutations show extra sensory pads along the palm of the hand and well as extra nerve endings which can tell us important things about early tetrapod soft tissue.</span></span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Sumida</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: Eudibamus cursoris</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> shows further evidence for being the earliest known facultative biped. Comparison of the forelimb bones with other faculative bipeds shows similar proportions and morphology with early bipedal archosaurs, which appeared 40 million years later. Forelimb also shows a reduction of digits and a disparity between forelimb and hindlimb length characteristic of other bipedal groups, like theropods.</span></span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Heers</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: The team used biomechanical modeling of </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Archeopteryx</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> involving the entire torso and everything known about its anatomy, not just bits and pieces of it, to figure out how the animal flew/if it could fly. Using this information the authors were able to produce a digital model of </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Archeopteryx </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">flapping and WAIR ability using both bird-like and crocodilian-like musculature.</span></span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Heers</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: The models suggest a more pitched upright posture (rather than a horizontal posture) in flight might have been very important in early birds, as it allows for a greater range of motion in the forelimbs and greater flight strength in a pitched flight position than a horizontal one. The model also shows that the range of motion in early bird forelimbs isn’t as debilitating as would be expected, and that the pectoralis and supracoracoideus muscles might have been more limited by the orientation of the muscles than their size.</span></span></li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Heers</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: Studies of modern bird chicks shows that juvenile birds require only about 10% the strength of an adult birds’ flight muscles to make it become airborne for quick burst flight. The pitched orientation and rapid flight stroke of early birds like </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Archeopteryx </i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">might have allowed for this quick burst to help reach high-up resources, climb, and escape predators.</span></span></li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Haridy</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: Acrodont reptiles show clear evidence of tooth migration, with the jaw growing forward and the teeth being moved anteriorly in the jaws during growth. This also means that juvenile individuals have more tooth spaces than adults as the dentary increases in size. The taxa looked at went from 13 tooth spaces in juveniles to less than 10 tooth spaces in adults.</span></span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Street</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: The types of mosasaur tooth ornamentation (faceted, fluted, striated, pebbled, serrated) is very fluid. A few ornamentations could be phylogenetically significant, but others could be more indicative of lifestyle.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Street</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: Fluted and faceted teeth are very similar morphologically, but striated teeth have a much different enamel and dentine junction. </span><span style="color: black; font-style: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Pebbled teeth (like seen in </span><span style="color: black; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Globidens</span><span style="color: black; font-style: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">) have </span><span style="color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">EXTREMELY </span><span style="color: black; font-style: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">thick enamel at the apex of the tooth (enamel makes up almost the entire top 2/3rds of the tooth). Finally, s</span><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">errated mosasaurs teeth lack true dentin-core serrations like seen in theropods and varanid lizards, and shouldn’t be treated as serrated teeth. Better term would be crenulated.</span></span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Brink</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: Heterodont dentitions can both appear in animal groups through ontogeny, or through evolution. Some lizards like tegus go from a monodont dentition to a heterodont dentition through ontogeny.</span></span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="vertical-align: baseline;"><b>Brink</b></span><span style="vertical-align: baseline;">: </span>Leopard geckos are born with two prominent egg teeth at the front of the jaw which are lost quickly after development to make room for a traditionally monodont dentition. </span><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">How the jaws change through ontogeny to accommodate the loss of such large egg teeth are important to understanding the dental size variation in amniotes.</span></span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Bramble</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: Tooth zones in hadrosaur jaws have surrounding zones of apposition and resorption which would move the position of the teeth as the animal grew.</span></span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="vertical-align: baseline;"><b>Bramble</b></span><span style="vertical-align: baseline;">: </span>Hadrosaur teeth migrated inwards and forwards as they grew, and the migration continued after they finished growing, likely to accommodate the forces with their oral food processing.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Wang</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: Oviraptorosaurs and early birds experienced reduction in tooth numbers through ontogeny. This loss seems to be tied with the development of the large </span><span style="font-weight: 400; white-space: pre-wrap;">rhamphotheca across the skull, and leads to the loss of the anteriormost teeth first.</span></span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Carr</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: Tyrannosaur facial integumentary textures suggest keratinous sheets over the hornlets of the eyes and armored skin (scales or keratin?) over the front of the face and dentary. (<a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/srep44942">Paper</a>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Carr</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">: I personally asked about the keratinous sheets which cover the face in crocodilians and "crack" in the embryo to form the "scales" of the adult. Carr says that it's impossible to tell at the moment the difference between true scales and a crocodilian-like keratinous sheet in tyrannosaurid skulls. Preserved tyrannosaur facial skin is the only way to answer the question.</span></span></span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Button</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: Lots of uncertainties behind what exactly are the osteological correlates of rhampotheca in birds and non-avian dinosaurs. However, t</span><span style="font-weight: 400; white-space: pre-wrap;">he number of pores on bird beaks seems to suggest it might scale with the thickness of the keratin on the beak. Birds with thin keratin have way fewer pores/foramina than birds with thick beaks (shoebill in their diagram was off the scale with how many pores and how thick the beak keratin was)</span></span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Button</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: <i>Erlikosaurus </i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">has extremely large foramina pits that puts it off the scale as an outlier when put on a graph. This high number of pores might be due to missidentification of ISOs among the foramina like seen in other theropods, birds, and crocodilians.</span></span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Button</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: Oviraptorosaurs plotted normally in the high end of birds, possessing large numbers of foramina. This suggests thick and reinforced beaks for at least the taxa studied, if not the whole group.</span></span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Bhullar</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: The evolution of key traits in bird beaks coincide with the development of traits in the brain associated with beak mapping in birds, which allows for tactile beak manipulation behaviors. This suggests that the bird beak evolved specifically to act like a "hand" for manipulating objects, much how we use our hands to manipulate objects (or type long blog posts).</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Poster Session</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Romano: </b><i style="font-weight: 400;">Milosaurus mccordi</i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> represents the largest known Carboniferous synapsid, estimated to be around 41kg based on limb and skeletal element data. It is crucial for understanding the early evolution of gigantism in terrestrial tetrapod communities.</span></span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>?????</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: Diving depth preference and visual sensitivity in mosasaurs is poorly known, which is required to understand their habitat and foraging preferences. Studies of 3D well-preserved sclerotic rings in mosasaurs compared to what’s known of modern diving animals could give us ideas on at what depths different species of mosasaurs were foraging at. Ongoing research.</span></span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>?????: </b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">New specimen of a tanystropheid from the Moenkopi formation shows that long-necked </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Tanystropheus</i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">-like members of the group inhabited both the Eastern and Western sides of Pangea at the same time. Further shows that the group was a widespread evolutionary success for roughly 35 million years.</span></span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>?????</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: Specimen of a large (erythrosuchid?) archosauromorph maxilla from New Mexico in rocks less than 7 million years after the Permian-Triassic extinction event suggests that archosaurian faunas recovered much more quickly than initially believed.</span><span style="font-weight: 400; white-space: pre-wrap;"> This suggests that the blank time period in the early Triassic fossil record is due to incomplete sampling rather than actual recovery rates. </span><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Trackways from large archosaurian reptiles in Arizona further suggest a fast recovery.</span></span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Rosenbach</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: Probable new specimen of a giant azhdarchid, probably </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Ambourgiania philadelphiae, </i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">from the Muwaqqar formation, including elements never-before-seen in giant pterosaurs. New material includes a large chunk of the forelimb girdle and the distal portion of the upper and lower jaw (both were 49 cm long). Gives new implications for the body shape and proportions of this taxa.</span></span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Garcia</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: Extreme tooth enlargement described in a new specimen of a rhabodontid from the Aix-en-Pronvince Basin in France. Well-preserved oral morphology of this new specimen shows that rhabodontids had extremely tall blade-like slicing teeth in the jaw forming a self-sharpening jagged edge along the tooth row. This morphology is suggested to have evolved to help chop up and consume soft monocot plants, which are common in the late Cretaceous of Europe. This is clearly different from the flattened grinding dentition in hadrosaurs, which likely evolved tooth batteries to better process conifers and tougher plants.</span></span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Khansubha</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: New giant early Cretaceous titanosaur specimen from Thailand’s Khok Kraut formation. Possesses a well-preserved right humerus about 1.78 meters long and provides new information about giant titanosaurs from the northern hemisphere continents. Specimen was found associated with 7 shred teeth from allosauroid and spinosaurid dinosaurs thought to be shed from feeding, as well as crocodylomorph and hybont shark teeth from the same layer.</span></span></div>
</li>
</ul>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
</span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Afternoon Sessions</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Struble</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: Proximal shortening of phalanges is associated with specific ecology in birds, which has implications for early bird and paravian theropod behavior.</span></span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Struble</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: Most ceolurosaurs and and early birds (</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Deinonychus, Compsognathus, Sinornithosaurus, Microraptor, Anchiornis, Iteravis, Zhongjianornis, </i>and <i>Pisciovoravis</i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">) all group with ground birds. However, other taxa tested (like </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Confuciornis</i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">) group heavily with perching birds.</span></span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Hall</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: Hindlimb feathers are common in modern birds, but none are like the hindlimb feathers of paravians and early birds, and are symmetrical.</span></span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Hall</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: A thermoregulatory role has been suggested for the feathers on the legs of modern birds. Evidence for this is very poor: no differences between taxa living in stable temperature environments and those in extreme temperature ones.</span></span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Hall</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: The closest thing to early bird feathers are chicken breeds with a genetic mutation called “vulture hock,” which produces extremely long feathers off the legs which are sometime asymmetrical like what’s seen in </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Microraptor</i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Further studies of these breeds might provide some answers for what the leg feathers of early birds were for.</span></span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Ksepka</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: New analyses and character traits from </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Madrynornis </i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">suggest it to be a sister taxa to </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Sphenicus </i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">and </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Eudiptula </i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">and a member of crown penguins. Makes it the earliest known crown penguin.</span></span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="vertical-align: baseline;"><b>Ksepka</b></span><span style="vertical-align: baseline;">:</span>Models of </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Madrynornis</i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">’ jaw musculature and beak form is consistent with fish-eating, rather than krill or shrimp-eating. Also suggests that piscivory is the ancestral condition for crown penguins, with krill-feeding evolving twice independently in the clade.</span></span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="vertical-align: baseline;"><b>Ksepka</b></span><span style="vertical-align: baseline;">: </span>Human activity has affected penguin diets in the past. Many modern krill-eating penguins only switched to a krill-based diet shortly after a combination of whaling and over-fishing led to an explosion in the krill populations.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Faux</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: Different developmental processes in ratite embryological growth supports the idea of multiple independent loss of flight in different paleognath groups.</span></span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Stidham</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: Ostrich eggshell and bone material from across Europe, Asia, North Africa, and India are often all lumped together under </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Struthio asiaticus</i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, despite all being from dramatically different formations, environments, and time periods. This does not seem likely.</span></span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="vertical-align: baseline;"><b>Stidham</b></span><span style="vertical-align: baseline;">: </span>New material from the late Miocene Hezheng formation, including a good specimen which includes the first fossil ostrich skull and wing bones (as well as some fossilized trachea rings!) shows that the Hezheng species has slightly more gracile wing bones than modern ostriches. Despite this, it’s overall slightly larger than extant ostriches due to overall robustness.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="vertical-align: baseline;"><b>Stidham</b></span><span style="vertical-align: baseline;">: </span>The Hezheng specimens are noticeably different from European material, but it’s hard to tell differences between </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Struthio wimani</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and this taxa. All material appears much different from the Indian material, including the </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Stuthio asiaticus</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> holotype.</span></span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="vertical-align: baseline;"><b>Stidham</b></span><span style="vertical-align: baseline;">: </span>Bite marks from mammalian carnivores on lots of the Hezheng ostirches: they were scavenged and predated on a lot.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="vertical-align: baseline;"><b>Stidham</b></span><span style="vertical-align: baseline;">: </span>New specimen with a skull and wings preserved also has a new large species of fossil mustelid preserved right next to the new complete Hezheng specimen in the same block.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Musser</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: New morphological and genetic information of higher land birds has found a novel relationship for </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Aptornis</i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: it is a gruoid and sister taxa to </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Psophia</i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. The two share 13 significant morphological characters bringing them together.</span></span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="vertical-align: baseline;"><b>Musser</b></span><span style="vertical-align: baseline;">: </span>This is odd because much like the Sunbittern + Kagu and Tinamou + </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Moa c</i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">lades suggested by recent phylogenies, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Aptornis </i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">and </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Psophia </i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">are separated by vast oceanic distances, and one taxon is flightless and the other is a weak flier.</span></span></div>
</li>
</ul>
<div>
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<div>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><b>?????</b> = Add-in posters not in the abstract book. I apologize to anyone who's posters was mentioned, let me know and I will make the correction.</i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif; white-space: pre-wrap;">And with that, I'll leave you with this pictures of a bunch of paleontologists on a seesaw, because that's how we roll at SVP 2017. See you tomorrow!</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">
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Tristan Stockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13007322806054653960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7121600678088328777.post-70183703761203010262016-11-02T12:19:00.001-07:002016-11-02T12:28:40.265-07:00SVP2016 Presentation HighlightsI haven't been online for a while, so I'll keep this top
part brief. I went to #SVP2016 in Salt Lake City, Utah, and was ecstatic
to learn about all the great new research going on. There was tons of
great stuff throughout the meeting and I met a lot of great people, but
I've inevitably gotten a lot of information requests regarding new work
being done at the meeting, and while <a class="external" href="http://vertpaleo.org/PDFS/2016/SVP-2016-Program-Book-v10-with-covers.aspx">the abstract is online for everyone to read</a>,
there's a lot of information from the presentations in particular that
aren't in there. This is all the stuff I was able to sit in on and and
write notes about. Keep in mind I purposely kept out presentation
material if it was under embargo, or per request of the authors, as well
as the fact that pretty much all of this is unpublished and should be
taken with much skepticism until properly published. Nonetheless, I feel
like this should be available somewhere for people to read if they
want, so I'm putting it here and <a href="http://raptorx863.deviantart.com/journal/SVP2016-Presentation-Highlights-643492506">my DeviantArt page for reference.</a> Remember though, <b>none of this is final.</b> <br />
<ul>
<li>Derived microraptorines and <i>Rahonavis</i> can do launching flight from the ground, but they don't have much sustainability in the air.</li>
<li> Species
of bohairornithid birds show owl and falcon-like foot proportions,
suggesting they hunted prey in similar ways to those raptorial birds.</li>
<li> Some oviraptorosaurs (<i>Elmisaurus</i>
in particular) have secretary bird-like foot proportions, leading to
the possibility they might have hunted by kicking small animals to death
in a similar fashion.</li>
<li> Calcium phosphate was found preserved in <i>Psittacosaurus</i> bristles, which suggests the structures were calcified in life.</li>
<li> Animals
with large display structures also tend to show high amounts of
variability in those structures. A study of ornithischians display
structures found that they have similar variability in their structures,
and up to three times more variability than the rest of the body.</li>
<li> Three new <i>Stegoceras</i>-grade
pachycephalosaurids ("stegocerines") have been found which represent a
southern radiation of pachycephalosaurs that were replaced in the
Maastrichtian by pachycephalosaurines.</li>
<li>Hadrosaurs
developed complex “wavy” tooth enamel to protect their teeth from
fracturing, kind of like what horses have to protect themselves from
problems like wave mouth.</li>
<li> Giant Mesozoic mammal footprints from the Catoca Diamond Mine in Africa that are ~107 million years old. Possibly represent <i>Repenomamus</i>-sized animal if not larger and was found alongside lots of dinosaur trackways. (This was only mentioned in-passing, but will hopefully be part of a study of trackways in the region.)</li>
<li> A
study of tail weaponry in various terrestrial animal lineages shows
that all animals that develop such tail weapons are large, armored,
quadrupedal herbivores, and in all cases where tail clubs in particular
evolve, they always evolve in stages where the tail stiffens first and
gains the expanded club later on.</li>
<li> New lineage of cheloniod turtles from Angola which might represent K-T Extinction survivors.</li>
<li> New
phylogenic work suggests protostegids may be outside the clade that
contains living sea turtles, rather than the sister group of
leatherbacks like some work has suggested. Even more bizarre is that
some work has also suggested they might be completely outside of the
clade that includes all modern turtles, which means they dramatically
converged into a similar appearance, biology, and lifestyle independent
of sea turtles.</li>
<li> There’s an unnamed new taxa of
crocodylomorph with ossified uncinate processes along the ribs,
something never before seen in a croc-line archosaur, and also makes it
so that it has a bizarrely bird-like ribcage.</li>
<li> Study
of the dorsotemporal fenestra (dtf) in early pseudosuchians &
dinosaurs shows that it has a large role in blood transfer to the top of
the skull in these groups. In theropods, the frontoparietal region
(area right in-front of the dtf) is NOT a muscle attachment site as
often claimed, as muscles would not funnel well into them & there's
no muscle scar evidence. This brings up the question of what is going on
in the expanded open area on the frontoparietal region in-front of the
dtf. In birds, there are lots of blood of vessels in this region that
help supply carunculate skin, display structures, and skull roof soft
tissues that need the heavy blood flow. Crocodilians also use the area
as a "thermal window" to cool the brain off in the heat of the day. They
suggested that the dtf might function in similar ways, and the
frontoparietal region was probably used by non-avian theropods and other
early archosaurs for thermal components of shedding heat, and display
components for providing blood to soft tissues on the face.</li>
<li> Taking the above a step further, some species of theropods like <i>Allosaurus</i> have vessel channels going from the frontoparietal region into display structures on the skull (in the case of <i>Allosaurus</i>,
it's the hornlets), so this leads to the possibility that the blood was
being provided to those areas through this region in order to engorge
them in blood for display purposes, like what some birds do. This could
be for color flushing, engorging waddles and other soft tissue
structures on the face, providing blood flow for keratinous structures
to grow, ect. Makes certain theropods seem a lot more colorful and
flashy. Moreover, the expansion was also adapted in certain
shield-headed croc lineages, suggesting the expanded shield in these
crocodilians might have been visual display structures in life.</li>
<li> Over 223 specimens of <i>Anchiornis</i>
are currently being examined for body outline preservation. The team
working on them has already looked at 3 and already found some cool
stuff, notably the extent of the foot muscles around the leg, color
melanosomes in the eyes, a propatagium in the forelimb, a soft tissue
fusion of digits 2 & 3, and evidence for the tail being decoupled
from the legs, suggesting the caudofemoralis was less involved in
locomotion for this taxa and possibly other paravians. </li>
<li> Studies
of the aerobic levels of non-mammalian synapsids show that they group
together with mammals in terms of activity levels to the point they’re
indistinguishable from each other. This suggests that even pelycosaurs
were already approaching mammal-like activity levels in the
Carboniferous, and might suggest that increased activity levels are
ancestral to amniotes.</li>
<li><div>
Evidence for semi-aquatic behaviors in <i>Cotylorhynchus</i>, as well as a diaphragm-like structure in this taxa and other </div>
<div class="firstHeading">
caseids.</div>
</li>
<li> More evidence for endothermy or at least increased aerobic behaviors being present in basal archosauriforms.</li>
<li> Models
of giant ectothermic animals (giganotermic) show they would not be
physiologically competitive and comparable with a true ectotherm in
terms of aerobic abilities. This is evidence against gigantothermy in
extinct animals.</li>
<li> Endothermy leads to the evolution
of high blood pressures, which allows large land animals to pump blood
up to the high parts of their body. Tall animals like sauropods and even
animals with tall blood-filled spines like <i>Dimetrodon</i> could not develop such heights without high endotherm-like blood pressures, suggesting they had to be endotherms.</li>
<li> New
late Triassic plesiosaur, making it one of the earliest known
plesiosaurs. Despite being so early, it's actually fairly derived, and
suggests that plesiosaurs both appeared and diversified even earlier in
the Triassic.</li>
<li> Evidence for high metabolic rates
and growth in all known plesiosaurs that have been tested. Some
plesiosaurs reached 70% full body size in less than a year. However,
nothosaurs and other basal sauropterygians have much slower growth rates
and metabolic levels, suggesting plesiosaurs developed endothermy
independent of other lineages.</li>
<li> <i>Eocursor</i> and
some prosauropods from the Elliott formation in South Africa seem to be
early Jurassic in age, not late Triassic as originally stated.</li>
<li> The
Triassic-Jurassic extinction event seems to have benefited
sauropodomorph diversity in the early Jurassic of South Africa. They
jump up in diversity and species numbers after the extinction event.</li>
<li> Multiple new taxa of Maastrichtian-aged titanosaurs from Egypt, Tanzania, and Malawi.</li>
<li> Plesiosaur
biomechanical models were created and showed that the most efficient
way they could move their fins is together in tandem at the same time.
Doing so increases efficiency by 30% and the hindflipper is able to
catch the foreflipper’s turbulence it produces under the fin, pushing
the animal faster. This might also explain why some plesiosaurs have
larger hindflippers than foreflippers; it would help catch the
turbulence and increase their speed even more.</li>
<li> New
theory on the usage of plesiosaur necks: used the long neck as aquatic
camouflage by producing less water pressure while moving, making them
less likely to alert fish when hunting.</li>
<li> Study of
the biochemistry of oviraptorosaur eggs in the nest show they were
definitely produced by multiple females, proving the idea the nests are
communal and likely guarded by a single male.</li>
<li> No evidence of sexual dimorphism in <i>Coelophysis</i>.
Instead the specimens show huge amounts of variation of body size and
morphs throughout the population. This seems to be the basal trait for
Dinosauria, but was lost in more derived groups, including advanced
tetanurans.</li>
<li> <i>Chindesaurus</i> comes out as a true theropod in the most recent analysis of its remains, and the sister taxon to <i>Tawa</i>, meaning it’s not evidence for a North American herrerasaurid. <i>Chindesaurus</i> and <i>Tawa</i> might possibly be part of a previously unknown northern clade of neotheropods.</li>
<li> <i>Elaphrosaurus</i> is part of the middle dinosaur member of the Tendaguru formation.</li>
<li> <i>Elaphrosaurus</i> and <i>Limusaurus </i>together
form the subfamily elaphrosaurines, which are noasaurids (work
published earlier this year). New info shows the humerus of “<i>Elaphrosaurus sp.</i>”
from the Morrison formation might be part of this clade as well, but
the lower leg bone also assigned to the taxa might actually be
abeliosauroid in origin. There is also a Chinese elaphrosaurine that is
the sister taxa to <i>Elaphrosaurus</i> which is currently being described and should be published soon.</li>
<li> <i>Elaphrosaurus’</i> close relation to <i>Limusaurus</i>,
as well as the shape of its neck vertebrae, heavily supports the
existence of a small head, beak, and herbivory in this species and other
known elaphrosaurines, meaning they represent another clade of
herbivorous theropods.</li>
<li> <i>Limusaurus</i> specimens
of a number of growth stages are now known, including hatchlings only a
few inches long. This shows that hatchlings have short faces and small
beaks as opposed to the adult’s rather long faces and pointy beaks.
Babies also have <i>MURDEROUSLY LONG KNIFE-LIKE TEETH</i> in their
mouth, while adults are toothless, and along with stable isotope
composition, suggests juveniles were omnivorous while adults were
herbivorous. <i>Limusaurus</i> is the only known dinosaur that loses all its teeth through ontogeny.</li>
<li> Forelimb
reduction has happened at least six times alone in non-avian theropods.
In every case it happens the same way; by reducing the size of the hand
while lengthening out the humerus relative to the other limb bones.</li>
<li> Two
new alvarezsaurs from the early Cretaceous period which show
intermediate forelimb anatomy between suggested basal alvarezsauroids
like <i>Haplocheirus</i> and advanced late Cretaceous forms.</li>
<li> The
theropods with the best cursorial adaptations in the leg are
tyrannosaurids, elaphrosaurine noasaurids, derived ornithomimids, and
parvicursorinae alvarezsaurids. Derived troodontids and caenagnathids
also come close to these taxa, but don’t have quite as many adaptations
for running and efficient movement as the former groups.</li>
<li>Cursorial
adaptations are not just for running. They can be used for other
behaviors besides running, such as increased stride length, more
efficient movement, and higher body reach.</li>
<li>Keeping
the above in mind, tyrannosaurid top speed in predicted mathematical
models is not very much different than other theropods of similar sizes,
like allosauroids, despite the speed adaptions in their feet. However,
stamina models of tyrannosaurids compared to allosauroids show that
while they’re both moving at the same speed, tyrannosaurids are burning
far fewer calories and moving much further distances than other
theropods by using these adaptations. The results are that big
tyrannosaurids have better endurance than any other large theropod.</li>
<li>Using
the same speed models as above, the same study also showed that basal
dromaeosaurids, like microraptorines, are much faster runners for their
body size than more derived dromaeosaurids.</li>
<li>A
study of the changes in skull shape of tyrannosaurids through ontogeny
shows that tyrannosaurids that live in ecosystems shared by other large
theropods of equivalent size show fewer differences through ontogeny
compared to species that are the only top predator in their region. For
example, <i>Gorgosaurus</i> and <i>Daspletosaurus</i> show low amounts of skull changes through ontogeny as they were sympatric species, while <i>Tyrannosaurus,</i>
which was the sole giant theropod in the region, have very different
juveniles which were exploring other niches in the ecosystem.</li>
</ul>
And that's pretty much it for the live presentations. I might do a second post on some of the stuff I did for fun as well as the posters some time in the future, but I think this is good sum-up of the general stuff for now.<br />
<br />Cheers!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7121600678088328777.post-21146008711858974302016-06-11T14:57:00.003-07:002016-06-11T16:06:22.820-07:00Just say NO to Montanaspinus<div data-contents="true">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipIIyvtaGiDTuiFmwopJ_rZj6HBTgRG2oJVE2zloOq5k_qLeet_xcArKzYTwstPl74k_hP6nXdLFjfiiA8J1dSZzLJucTyYKJ7SukAZ6jtF3tjnCvvbGGMVGawyzTmYOmQU5Eqj5I0GX8/s1600/13432448_10209835305945174_4899116666140847484_n.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="264" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipIIyvtaGiDTuiFmwopJ_rZj6HBTgRG2oJVE2zloOq5k_qLeet_xcArKzYTwstPl74k_hP6nXdLFjfiiA8J1dSZzLJucTyYKJ7SukAZ6jtF3tjnCvvbGGMVGawyzTmYOmQU5Eqj5I0GX8/s640/13432448_10209835305945174_4899116666140847484_n.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="9ckuh-0-0">
<span data-offset-key="9ckuh-0-0"><span data-text="true">So I got back home from my museum job to see a number of posts filling my Facebook and Twitter feeds about the "discovery" of Montanaspinus inexpectatus from Hell Creek Montana, a Late Cretaceous spinosaurid the same size as Spinosaurus living in the same environment as Tyrannosaurus rex. I remembered hearing about something like it while watching a number of the Saurian live streams, and initially believed it was an inside joke referring to the fact that the Saurian Devs kept getting requests to include Spinosaurus in the game, even though the species is not native to Hell Creek. These reports, which were being spread by a number of rather prominent paleoartists, were claiming it was indeed a real animal and posted it on numerous web group pages. Let's just say that this raised my eyebrows quite a bit.</span></span></div>
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<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="aio69-0-0">
<span data-offset-key="aio69-0-0"><br data-text="true" /></span></div>
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<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="4lo95" data-offset-key="4j570-0-0">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="4j570-0-0">
<span data-offset-key="4j570-0-0"><span data-text="true">Sure enough, it turns out that it was untrue. I asked some paleoartists online about what was circulating on social media, and learned that many of them were poising the whole ordeal as an experiment to see if it would be picked up by prominent members of "Awesomebro" culture and general fanboys online. From what I've gathered they did it all themselves without the knowledge of the Saurian team and claimed it was a real animal for only a couple of hours before coming clean. (They initially planned to keep it up for 2 weeks, but decided against it after being called out by paleontologists and other concerns.)</span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="3rfm0-0-0"><br data-text="true" /></span></div>
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<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="75r1g-0-0">
<span data-offset-key="75r1g-0-0"><span data-text="true">Let's just say that whether it was a few hour long prank or not, I don't think this was a good idea. Despite the paleoart being shared of the animal having hidden words such as "prank" in the folds of its skin, and people clearly showing doubt towards it from the start, I'm still seeing people in my social media feeds and numerous groups sharing the images as if they were real. Even if the descriptions now have come clean saying that Montanaspinus isn't real, I just read a study the other day stating that <a href="http://thesciencepost.com/study-70-of-facebook-commenters-only-read-the-headline/">70% of people on Facebook will only read a headline to a scientific study before commenting</a>. Sad as it is, we need to be aware of this, and something like this floating around being treated like it's real by some rather prominent faces in online paleo isn't a good thing.</span></span></div>
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<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="7ahn2-0-0">
<span data-offset-key="7ahn2-0-0"><br data-text="true" /></span></div>
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<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="1dfdc-0-0">
<span data-offset-key="1dfdc-0-0"><span data-text="true">I know it was just a joke, and if it came out on April Fools or something then I'd be much more ok with it. But seeing as this was primarily created to be misleading, and primarily aimed at fanboys and awesomebros, this worries me. I like to poke fun at fanboy and awesomebro culture as much as the next guy, and MANY awesomebro tropes completely irk me to no end, but that doesn't mean I want to make fun of the fanboys themselves or make them believe things that are untrue just for the fun of it (even though they believe many things that are untrue to begin with). I'd much rather want to use my time and effort to try and prevent misleading information to spread. Imagine if this completely false story got picked up by some blogger and spread like wildfire across social media. Us passionate about these sorts of things would have a serious mess to clean up.<br /></span></span></div>
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="1dfdc-0-0">
</div>
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="1dfdc-0-0">
<span data-offset-key="1dfdc-0-0"><span data-text="true"><span data-offset-key="1dfdc-0-0"><span data-text="true"><span data-offset-key="1dfdc-0-0"><span data-text="true"><span data-offset-key="1dfdc-0-0"><span data-text="true">Even if some fanboys might be trolls, douche bags, or general excrement-heads doesn't mean all of them are. </span></span></span></span>People seem to forget that we ourselves often started out as the quote-on-quote "fanboys" that we so often joke about. Indeed in some ways fanboys are some of the biggest voices and majorities in paleo, whether we like it or not, and they shouldn't have to be our enemy. Rather than working against these kinds of people, we should be working hard to better educate them and teach them why the real science is important and just as interesting, not making fun of them for not knowing nearly as much as others might.<br /><br />For more general thoughts on the whole awesomebro trend in paleo, I recommend you check out Scott Potter's recent Editorial of Thagomizers. </span></span></span></span><span data-offset-key="1dfdc-0-0"><span data-text="true"><span data-offset-key="1dfdc-0-0"><span data-text="true">As for Montanaspinus, it seems like it caused no serious harm this time, and hopefully nothing misleading like it will surface ever again.</span></span></span></span></div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/2NJJTAse1Eg/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/2NJJTAse1Eg?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div>
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<span data-offset-key="1dfdc-0-0"><span data-text="true">Great to be back! Looking like I'll be doing more posts with classes being over. Feel free to leave suggestions in the comments for future, more cheerful blog posts.</span></span><br />
<span data-offset-key="1dfdc-0-0"><span data-text="true"><br />Until next time, stay sharp! </span></span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7121600678088328777.post-33669220908841105262015-12-14T18:50:00.001-08:002015-12-14T19:39:55.705-08:00The Hollywood Dinosaurs Part 1 - The Good Dinosaur<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><u>*Note this is a critical look at the movie r</u><u>eflecting the personal opinions of the author. If you do not like opinions, do not read.</u></span></div>
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<a href="http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/pixar/images/7/73/The_Good_Dinosaur_Promo_Art_03.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20150908153903" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/pixar/images/7/73/The_Good_Dinosaur_Promo_Art_03.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20150908153903" height="320" width="216" /></a></div>
A few months back, <a href="http://nmpdn.blogspot.com/2015/07/the-good-er-dinosaur.html">only the second post I ever wrote on this new blog</a>, I talked about how promising Pixar's latest film <i>The Good Dinosaur</i> looked from the first few trailers. I was pretty hyped for the movie even when I first heard about it back around 2011, and a lot of signs were there from early on that this would be a great film. They had a solid story and animation team which was involved in other such Pixar classics as <i>Up</i>, <i>Finding Nemo</i>, and <i>The Incredibles</i>, and, as I mentioned in my last run-down, the one of the lead animators was Greg Dykstra, who is himself a paleontology fan who's even been on a few digs in South Dakota. The premise seemed interesting enough too from the first few trailers, and the animation looked downright stellar. There was also talk at the time of the first few trailers that the film even had a pack of feathered dromaeosaurids and was going to incorporate recent discoveries. There was so much for a paleo-nut like myself to be excited for!<br />
<br />
But, as time went on things started getting a bit weird. As we started to learn more about Arlo and the story of the film, the less invested I was. It didn't help that we learned that the "feathered dromaeosaurids" mentioned in some interviews looked like they had their feathers hot glue-gunned onto their body, or that we learned that the T. rex for some reason gallop like horse. (The heck?)<br />
<br />
Still, the rumors didn't deter me from going out to try it. So last week right before finals (when I probably should've been studying) I went to the theater and tried to watch the film with an open mind. The lights dimmed down, I had my drink in-hand, and I was excited to see the story play out.<br />
<br />
And it was the worst Pixar movie I've ever seen.<br />
<br />
Note that that still means it's millions of miles ahead of many other movies, and that I still somewhat enjoyed it, but still, getting the title of "worst Pixar movie" can't be a good thing, and a quick Google search seems to suggest I'm not alone on this. IGN is saying <i>The Good Dinosaur</i> might be "Pixar's first bomb," and Rotten Tomatoes gave the film a score similar to Jurassic World when it first came out, and substantially lower than almost all other Pixar works. What happened?<br />
<br />
<b>(Spoilers)</b><br />
<br />
Well, to sum up the story in it's purest, <i>The Good Dinosaur</i> is a movie about a boy and his dog, only that the boy is an <i>Apatosaurus </i>named Arlo and the dog is a caveboy named Spot. Ok.... The <i>Apatosaurus </i>is born into a family of... farmers? But one day his dad gets killed in a flood (cause Disney hates parents), and shortly afterwards, Arlo is accidentally swept downriver into an unfamiliar landscape and has to learn how to survive and make it home with the help of his cave-dog-man Spot. Along the way they meet a crazy pet-collecting ceratopsian, a cult of pterosaurs which worship the storms they follow, and a pack of cowboy <i>T. rex.</i> (One of which is voiced by <span class="st">Sam Elliott.)</span><br />
<br />
On paper this sounds like a really crazy, creative film, but in execution, it falls a bit flat. Most Pixar movies have an overarching narrative theme to them, or reasons behind their creative dives, and even small details might turn out to have high importance or meaning later on. In this film, it's creative, but it doesn't mean anything. There's no reason why Arlo is part of a family of farmers from a storytelling perspective, or why the ceratopsians collects pets, nor why the <i>T. rex</i> are cowboys. I'd be fine with that if this was any other movie, but this is Pixar. Pixar is great at constructing good overarching messages like that.<br /><br />Moreover, most of the characters in this film aren't that great. Arlo is the stereotypical kid that needs to learn how to be brave and "earn his mark" (that's literally the term they use). His father, during the time that we see him, is the typical father that pushes him to face his fears. His mother and siblings are... just kinda there, and most of the side-characters he encounters on the way (with the exception of the T. rex family) are bland and forgettable. We don't even get to learn much about Spot in all the time we see him. We learn that he's been on his own for years ever since he lost his own family, but since his only real way of communicating is through barks and panting, it doesn't allow for much development. This also means there's some awkward developments in the story too. For example, Arlo first hates Spot's guts during the first part of the movie cause he blames him as the reason that his father died trying to save his life, and then literally after Spot shows Arlo where to find food, they suddenly become best buds.<br /><br />Finally, it also doesn't help that the story in in the film is something we've seen a million times before in other, better works. When you get to the heart of it, this is also yet another "young dinosaur going on a journey" movie we've seen in other works, like Don Bluth's <i>Land Before Time</i>, Disney's <i>Dinosaur</i>, the Talking- sorry, <i>Walking With Dinosaurs</i> movie, etc. We really didn't need <b>another </b>movie like this. If it was just that it wouldn't have been too bad, but at the same time, I can recall exact scenes from this film which were almost identical to parts of those others.<b> </b>It definitely heavily borrowed a number of plot elements from other media, and not in a good way.<br />
<b><br />(Spoilers End)<br /></b>When all is said and done, I guess it's still not a "bad" movie. The animation is undoubtedly the best the studio has ever put out, the story is passable, and it is creative, even if that creativity doesn't get to shine. It's just a bit disappointing considering all that I've heard about this film and got excited up until now, especially with Pixar having just put out one of the best-received films the company ever made just this year. Really a big shame if you ask me.<br /><br />This isn't all I've got to say about this movie though. Oh no. In fact, I've been meaning to talk about the problems I, and I think many other paleontology enthusiasts like myself have noticed with dinosaur media in recent years. I hope to cover those topics in some new blog posts in the future, as well as possible ways to fix this loop we've been stuck in concerning dinosaur movies. Hopefully, you'll find the time to put up with me the whole way through.<br />
<br />
Cheers!<br />
<br />
<b>P.S.</b> I know this wasn't really an analytical look at the film from a paleontological prospective, like making fun of how the pterosaurs behaved or looked, but I thought that would be a bit difficult since we're talking about a movie where the <i>Apatosaurus </i>are farmers, the <i>T. rex</i> are cowboys, and the humans are like dogs. If you want to read something more of that nature, Brian Switek wrote some stuff up on <a href="http://www.slate.com/blogs/wild_things/2015/11/28/the_good_dinosaur_science_evolution_and_nostalgia.html">Slate.com</a> and <a href="http://gizmodo.com/pixars-dino-design-kicks-it-old-school-in-the-good-dino-1739811177">Gizmodo,</a> and Jaime Headden wrote <a href="https://qilong.wordpress.com/2015/12/01/the-very-decent-dinosaur/">a semi-review, semi-analysis of the film on his blog</a>. There's also <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jw7n6YnNY4Y">a video by The Doodling Dino</a> where he redesigns Arlo to better fit the scientific consensus of sauropods, alongside some talk about the movie. Hopefully you'll find something to your liking. :)Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7121600678088328777.post-10102690545421914902015-11-08T15:49:00.000-08:002015-11-11T15:48:30.361-08:00A Paleonerd's Analysis - BBC's Walking With Dinosaurs Part 3<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Well, I'm back with part three of my analysis of Walking With Dinosaurs. Was a lot of work getting here, but it was a lot of fun and I got some good research time out of it, so I regret nothing. I've gotten a lot of good feedback from the series, so I'm thinking of doing some similar reviews of documentaries like it in the future. Perhaps this could be it's own series; I got a suggestion on Facebook of calling it "SaurianSins" or "PaleoSins", but I'll think about it. If you wanna see do more stuff like this though, make some suggestions in the comments below or on Facebook.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Anyways, on to the final act! Today I'll be looking at episodes 5 and 6 of the original Walking With Dinosaurs series: <u><b>Spirits of the Ice Forest</b></u> and <u><b>Death of a Dynasty</b></u>. As before, <span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">these
notes are not just limited to me checking over the facts presented, but
just observations on a variety of things in the series, good and bad
(mostly bad). I will also not go into too much detail about all the
animal models, as that would take WAY too much time and end up
sounding repetitive. Without further ado, let's wrap this up!</span></span></span></span><br />
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<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><u>Spirits of the Ice
Forest</u></b></span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://i581.photobucket.com/albums/ss256/y4r3y4r3/wwdep5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i581.photobucket.com/albums/ss256/y4r3y4r3/wwdep5.jpg" height="222" width="400" /></a></span></span></div>
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-synthesis: weight style; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"></span>The
documentary apparently takes place in Antarctica, even though all the animals
are from Australia…</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-synthesis: weight style; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"></span>Takes
place 106 million years ago, which is right in the middle of the Albian (100.5
- 113 mya). While many of the animals do come from a roughly that same time
span, some like the <i>Koolasuchus </i>and
<i>Leaellynasaura</i> actually come from older, Aptian-aged rocks.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Branagh
says that there is a “giant continent” which is made up of South America,
Australia, and Antarctica. If I remember correctly though, South America had
split off from Antarctica by this time, and Australia should at least be
nearing the point where it gets disconnected. <b>EDIT: The <span style="font-family: inherit;">separation</span> of Australia and <span style="font-family: inherit;">Antarctica</span> was a <span style="font-family: inherit;">Cenozo<span style="font-family: inherit;">ic <span style="font-family: inherit;">event</span>, so <span style="font-family: inherit;">although it was s<span style="font-family: inherit;">plit<span style="font-family: inherit;">ting,</span></span></span> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">a</span> complete disconnection still </span>had a long way to go.</span></span></b> </span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-synthesis: weight style; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"></span>Something
that has bothered me about this series before, but especially so in
this particular episode, is the fact that the show uses the exact
same general model for all of their small herbivorous dinosaurs, just changing
the skin around. The <i>Leaellynasaura</i> have
the exact same model as the <i>Othnielosaurus</i>
from Episode 2 and an unidentified “hypsilophodont” (probably <i>Thescelosaurus</i>) from Episode 6, even
though all three are quite different animals.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Speaking
of <i>Leaellynasaura</i>, this model is
really, really dated. It’s seriously night-and-day from what <a href="http://img02.deviantart.net/32d6/i/2013/007/e/6/leaellynasaura_by_stygimolochspinifer-d5qtg77.png">our current perception of what this animal looks like</a>. Not only that, but it’s also REALLY
creepy. Especially the close-up shots of the puppets. Their eyes look dead, they
have the creepiest faces, and weird cheek that are clearly plastic or rubber…</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The
<i>Leaellynasaura</i> communicate to each
other by using high-frequency clicks. If you listen really closely to a few of
them though, it’s clear they’re mechanical in nature, sounding almost exactly
like grinding gears.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Koolasuchus</i> is dubbed a
“giant amphibian.” Considering that the term “amphibian” is now largely
restricted to the group lissamphibia, and <i>Koolasuchus</i>
is a chigutisaurid temnospondyl, this is bad terminology.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">My
knowledge on temnospondyls
is kind of lacking, so forgive me if I get something wrong here, but from what
I know the <i>Koolasuchus </i>in this
episode is a bit awkward. We only know of partial remains of <i>Koolasuchus</i> (much of which hasn’t been
described), but other chigutisaurids show that it probably wasn’t like a
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant_salamander">cryptobranchid salamander</a>
(which I think the documentary based it off). Chigutisaurids are more
big-headed and short-tailed than what the documentary seems to show, and many
actually have well-developed limbs as well as a specialized shoulder girdle,
perhaps suggesting a method of aquatic locomotion largely involving the limbs. It
also appears to lack the tabular horns characteristic of most chigutisaurids,
instead having a more rounded skull profile when viewed from above.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-synthesis: weight style; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"></span>Branagh
mentions that competition with crocodylomorphs drove temnospondyls into
extinction elsewhere in the world. While that particular statement could be
debatable, as other events could’ve also driven their numbers down elsewhere, <i>Koolasuchus</i> in particular might’ve been
driven extinct by crocodilians, as when Cretaceous temperatures rose later in
the Albian we started finding crocodylomorphs in the same area, while <i>Koolasuchus</i> remains disappear.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The
<i>Leaellynasaura</i> utilized surface nests
which are formed out of decaying plant matter. We <a href="http://www.envs.emory.edu/faculty/MARTIN/ResearchDocs/Dinosaur_burrows_2009.pdf">now
know that many small polar dinosaurs from Australia utilized burrows</a>, and
given the environment this is taking place, this seems like a more sound
strategy for this species.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Another
reason surface nesting isn’t a sound strategy; the <i>Leaellynasaura</i> are small, defenseless herd of animals that are
being incredibly loud and are in no way at all trying to conceal the presence
of their nests. This has bad idea written all over it, and wouldn’t you know? A
theropod attacks them.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Plus,
to top it all off, now the predator should know where they are nesting.
Theropods were more than smart enough to know to return to the site again after
a failed ambush, because they know that their eggs are there and that the mothers
will return. Now the predator will probably be stuck to the entire herd like
glue for the rest of the nesting season.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Ok,
said theropod mentioned above is referred to as a “polar allosaur”. This species
is obviously based on the ankle bone found in Cape Patterson, Victoria, which
for the longest time was referred to as a “polar allosaur”, “dwarf allosaur”,
or even by the informal museum name “Allosaurus robustus”. This has now been
entirely disproven, and the bones is now thought to belong to a member of the <span class="nowrap">megaraptora (or possibly
an abelisaur).</span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">And
here comes the <i>Muttaburrasaurus</i> herd.
True these guys are found in northern Australia and are from roughly the same
time, but we lack any evidence of them whatsoever from southern
Australia/Antarctica. I guess this is just speculative behavior on the
documentary’s part, but even so, its species displacement and putting them in
an environment they aren’t known from.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The
<i>Leaellynasaura</i> are responding to
their mother’s calls while they’re still developing in the egg. Not while
they’re close to hatching, Branagh clearly says that they’re still early in
their embryo development. This makes no sense on a developmental standpoint.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Antarctic
coatis! Wait, what?</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">This
ring-tailed coati (<i>Nasua nasua)</i> is apparently playing a <i>Steropodon</i>. Never mind the fact that <i>Steropodon</i> is an early platypus and
looks nothing at all like a coati, but it’s thought to be aquatic, so what’s it
doing sniffing around for dinosaur eggs?</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“But
the <i>Leaellynasaura</i> has an unusual
defense” – It’s kicking dirt. I’ll admit, that that is quite unusual, but not
in the way that I think you’re presenting it.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-synthesis: weight style; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"></span>POOR
COATI! D: It’s clear in this scene that the film crew is throwing dirt in this
coati’s face in order to get the shots they need. The heck people? No. That is
not ok. Apologize to this coati right now. If any of you laughed at this scene,
you apologize too. It did not ask to get dirt thrown in its face. It better not
say “no animals were harmed during the making of this series” at the end.</span></span></li>
<li>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The
<i>Leaellynasaura</i> “chicks” look like
tweety bird. And no, not adorable fluffy way, <a href="http://loumora.com/storage/banksy_tweety_art_photo.jpg?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1271179274938">I
mean like in the bald, scaly, creepy way</a>.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-synthesis: weight style; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"></span>This
episode is big on live-action animals. They have a giant weta and tuatara
playing out early anostostomatids and sphenodonts respectively. Although, using
a tuatara is probably a debatable choice, given that modern tuatara are
actually really different from their extinct relatives. I also don’t know of
any anostostomatids or sphenodonts known from either South Australia or
Antarctica, and although giant weta and tuatara are semi-adapted to deal with
similar environments, they’re both rather specialized and we don’t know if they’re
ancestors were the same.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Branagh
goes on for a while about how the “polar allosaur” is the last holdover of “Jurassic
Carnosaurs”. Not only is this debatable with classifications of Megaraptora
having them jump in-and-out of Coelurosaurs and Carnosauria, but at the same
this episode takes place there is a near-worldwide reign of
carcharodontosaurids going on (which are Carnosaurs), and we have direct fossil
evidence of them all the way up to the Maastrichtian. This species is far from
the “last Carnosaur” (if it even is a Carnosaur).</span></span></li>
<li>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-synthesis: weight style; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"></span><b><a href="http://media.makeameme.org/created/Brace-yourself-Winter.jpg">Winter is
coming.</a></b>
Sorry, had to do it.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-synthesis: weight style; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"></span>The
<i>Leaellynasaura</i> clan’s lead female is
killed, who is apparently the herd leader and makes all the important decisions.
In most animals, this should immediately call for the election of a subordinate
individual to take over the role of “alpha”, whether it be her mate or a
subordinate female. But no, they hold off on choosing a new lead individual,
which seems like a huge cripple to their survival. However, despite this, the
entire herd is somehow able to agree on complex survival decisions throughout
the entire winter, including when it’s time to enter and exit torpor, all
without a leader. This brings up the question of why they then rely on a leader
individual to begin with, because they seem to have the behaviors programmed
into them to survive like animal herds which live without “alpha” individuals.</span></span></li>
<li>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Outside the strange world of <i>Leaellynasaura</i>
politics, I actually really like the majority of the winter segment, and as did
actually feel like these were animals living in a frozen, dark forest. Although, the forest still looks a bit too lush for a place that's locked in near-permanent darkness...</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">On
the other hand, I have no idea how paleontologists thought for the longest time
that these animals could survive such harsh winter conditions without the aid
of any winter protection, like fat, fur, or feathers. These animals are
essentially walking around naked in sub-zero temperatures. You go try that for 5
minutes and tell me how it goes. Thank goodness we have such nice, fluffy
reconstructions up these days.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">And
now winter is over, and the clan is back to being active. However, we then get
some idea on how leader individuals are decided. By their behaviors, it seems
like the clan leader, which is a female, is chosen by a wining male, who then
becomes her subordinate. This is weirdly complex… Do any other animals do this?
I don’t know of any.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Also,
it’s clear that when the new “alpha pair” mates, their
reproductive organs do not line up. Reminds me of a certain meme… What was it
again? Maybe I'll link it later.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Branagh
mentions a “slight cooling of the world’s climate” is what ended up driving all
these polar dinosaurs into extinction. This is not at all true though. As I
mentioned above, the area actually warmed in the following few million years,
allowing for crocodiles to exist there. Moreover, the Cretaceous Thermal
Maximum (CTM) was fast approaching, and eventually would sent worldwide
temperatures into hothouse mode for much of the rest of the Cretaceous.</span></span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 12pt 0.25in; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><u>Death of a Dynasty</u></b></span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.framestore.com/sites/default/files/styles/hero_720x406px/public/work/wwd_trex2.jpg?itok=UAJaIA7F" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.framestore.com/sites/default/files/styles/hero_720x406px/public/work/wwd_trex2.jpg?itok=UAJaIA7F" height="225" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Onto
the last episode and there’s already bad signs with the <i>Didelphodon</i>. It looks like a cross between a domestic dog and a
badger and has a rounded, almost pudgy body, which is not at all what we think
it looked like. We now know from better remains that <i>Didelphodon</i> was actually pretty elongate and slender, had a long
flexible tail, and might’ve even been semi-aquatic like an otter.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Given
the above, it’s very unlikely that <i>Didelphodon</i>
was “a specialist dinosaur nest raider,” as every flipping documentary showing
Mesozoic mammals would lead you to believe.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">As
this <i>T. rex</i> shows, mammals make tasty
snacks. I swear I can even see her licking her chops as she grabs it and
crushes it up in her jaw.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Speaking
of the rex, <i>Walking with Dinosaurs</i>
has one of <i><b><span style="font-family: inherit;">the worst</span></b></i> <i>T. rex</i> designs
ever. Not only is it shrink-wrapped to death, has incorrect body proportions, a
really short tail, looks almost diseased, and for some strange reason has hooves (<span style="font-family: inherit;">W</span>hat!?), but it’s downright ugly to boot.
The Jurassic Park <i>T. rex</i> is closer to
the real animal than this one is, which is a real shame.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Time
frame of this episode is Montana, 65.5 mya a few months prior to the Chicxulub impact
event. However, the most recent dating techniques now put the extinction of the
dinosaurs, and the impact, closer to 66 mya. Of course, this info just came out
about a year ago, and the majority of people have yet to pick up on this news
either…</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Ok,
Chile and New Zealand are NOT good environmental analogues of what we think the
Maastrichtian of Montana looked like. We see nothing but deserts, volcanoes,
ash fields, and the occasional grove of trees, but actual fossil evidence from
Hell Creek clearly shows a flood plain with dense woodlands of redwoods, monkey
puzzles, ferns, cycads, and palm trees. There’s also swampy environments and
wet fern prairies which were filled with a variety of fish, crocodiles, champsosaurs,
and turtles (the latter are actually the most common vertebrate fossils found
in Hell Creek), all of which probably could not survive in the environment
being shown.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Presumably
the host of volcanic disasters being mentioned in the documentary are the
Deccan Traps event, which coincided with the dinosaur extinction and might’ve
been one of its primary drives. <span style="font-family: inherit;">Although, </span>the Deccan Traps
was a<span style="font-family: inherit;"> largely</span> Indian event, and thus these volcanic chains in Montana choking
everything to death shouldn’t be present</span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">A
male rex ventures into a sulfurous vent field releasing poisonous carbon
monoxide. <span style="font-family: inherit;">T</span>here is absolutely no evidence of <span style="font-family: inherit;">geological features </span>like this from Hell Creek.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The
rex ends up going to this area because he somehow smells a dead
animal over the streams of sulfur and volcanic gases. I know <i>T. rex</i> smell was good, but I doubt it
was good enough to sniff out a tiny carcass out of all those volcanic gasses.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Speaking
of the carcass, what even is it? From the angle that I see it, it looks almost
like a rauisuchian, but that’s highly unlikely even for <i>Walking with Dinosaurs</i> to get something that big wrong. It’s more
likely to be some kind of theropod, but I can’t even get close to guessing
which.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">There’s
a Cretaceous-aged butterfly that they show in one “diversification of flowers”
segment. Given that true butterflies first appear in the fossil record 54
million years ago, I have no idea why the creators decided to show one living
in the Mesozoic.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Dromaeosaurus</i> terrorizes the
local herbivores, even though <i>Dromaeosaurus</i>
is not known from Hell Creek, but rather the Dinosaur Provincial Park formation,
which <span style="font-family: inherit;">is</span> almost 10 million years earlier.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Also,
like the <i>Utahraptor</i>, this <i>Dromaeosaurus</i> looks butt-ugly and has a
model that is is clearly based off of varanid lizards.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The
<i>Ankylosaurus</i> model is really weird
looking, and doesn’t appear to have its armor <span style="font-family: inherit;">s</span>haped or arranged properly
at all, having far too many small back osteod<span style="font-family: inherit;">e</span>rms and completely lacking the <span style="font-family: inherit;">armored <span style="font-family: inherit;">ne<span style="font-family: inherit;">ck</span></span></span> <span style="font-family: inherit;">bands</span>. The head is also shaped odd, and the nostrils are in the wrong
spots.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The
<i>Ankylosaurus</i> is quite large, with Branagh
stating that it is over 30ft long and 7 tonnes. More recent estimates place the
species’ length closer to 23ft long, though this is largely because of a quirk
of <i>Ankylosaurus</i>, as this particular genus has a much shorter tail than most other ankylosaurids (<a href="http://nmpdn.blogspot.com/2015/09/a-tale-of-tails-evolution-driving.html">see <span style="font-family: inherit;">a </span>previous post, which explains why</a>). As such, the genus is still pretty
massive, though still probably not 7 tonnes.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Acidic
pollution from volcanoes is apparently destroying dinosaur eggs and preventing
them from developing properly. One, I want fossil evidence for
that claim. Two, these eggs are nowhere near a volcano, so I don't see how they were killed by one. Three, <a href="http://www.nature.com/ncomms/journal/v1/n3/full/ncomms1031.html">titanosaurs apparently didn’t get the memo</a>. (Given, this is due to specializations in the<span style="font-family: inherit;"> latter's</span> eggs.)</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">And
now we see a whole herd of <i>Torosaurus</i>
wandering about the wastelands. However, <i>Torosaurus</i>
isn’t found in upper Hell Creek; it’s found in the lower parts of the formation
and appears to be absent from the upper areas, suggesting it disappeared from
the area long before the time this episode takes place.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Like
the <i>Stegosaurus</i> from episode 2, the <i>Torosaurus</i> can somehow flush their
entire frills full of blood within seconds, even though this seems highly
unlikely given that they have to face the same problems the <i>Stegosaurus</i> would need to face (a keratin layer is thought to covers the display features of both).</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Jeez,
when two <i>Torosaurus</i> face off, one
breaks the brow horn off the other. That’s pretty brutal, and I don’t think
most modern herbivorous animals typically go that far when fighting with their
horns/antlers. We also lack evidence for broken horns in all known ceratopsians
(with the exception of a <i>Triceratops</i>
individual, but that’s only because it had its horn bitten off by a <i>T. rex</i>), so this should be a super rare
occurrence at best.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Triceratops</i> makes a cameo in
this documentary as a carcass that the male <i>T.
rex</i> brought down off-screen. Most people were rather disappointed by the
lack of Hell Creek’s most common dinosaur, but what most viewers didn’t know was
that the creators planned this. You see, the casting team was lucky to get the
same <i>Triceratops</i> actor who starred in
the original Jurassic Park. The WWD team were all big fans of Mr. Trike’s
amazing talent for lying completely still and doing nothing, and wanted to
bring out his inner talent by giving him an even greater role as a dead pile of
meat. Mr. Trike won Oscars for both amazing performances, but sadly, shortly
after he signed a new major contract, <a href="http://i.huffpost.com/gen/3058052/images/o-STEVEN-SPIELBERG-TRICERATOPS-facebook.jpg">he
was murdered by a sick psychopath who posted images of his body on social media</a>.
Truly unfortunate that such amazing young talent was killed, and we never
really got to see him reach his prime too...</span></span></li>
<li>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Fun
stuff aside, the documentary then starts to explore all the tropes of <i>T. rex</i> sexual dimorphism which was
commonly stated throughout the 90s. (Females bigger and more aggressive than
males, etc.) All features originally stated as evidence for <i>T. rex</i> sexual dimorphism has been almost
completely disproven in recent years<span style="font-family: inherit;">. T</span>he "robust" and "gracile" morphs of <i>T. rex</i> reported throughout Hell Creek is
more likely to do with evolutionary trends in a population over time rather
than sexual dimorphism.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Branagh
says that the male rex had to bring down the <i>Triceratops</i> in order to court the female, because otherwise, she
would attack him on-sight. Um, isn’t the female the one who’s been doing
endless mating calls for days trying to attract a male? <span style="font-family: inherit;">It's counter<span style="font-family: inherit;">-productive i<span style="font-family: inherit;">f </span></span></span>she’s the one trying to <span style="font-family: inherit;">court </span>a mate, but if she encounters said possible
mate, she’ll immediately attack and try to kill him.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 107%;">Anyways, the male is successful in
courting, but apparently not in the love-making department, for when the two individuals
mate later, the genital openings do not in any way line up, and it’s as
bad as the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=898499140212925&set=a.538052706257572.1073741848.100001585433232&type=3">Dinosaur
Revolution mating segment</a> (meme by</span> <span style="line-height: 107%;">Attila Kovács).</span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><span style="line-height: 107%;">Anatotitan</span></i><span style="line-height: 107%;">
are now almost universally regarded as mature individuals of the species <i>Edmontosaurus annectens</i>, and so the
former name is now dropped, which is a shame, as I quite enjoyed the name
“Titan Duck”.</span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 107%;">Branagh states something about all
hadrosaurs being adapted for lowland swamps, and that because of the
“disasters” going on, they are unable to adapt. This isn’t true at all though, and
hadrosaurs are found on almost every continent and in every known late Cretaceous environment, from deserts, to woodland, to polar climates, to coastal
swamps, and far more. Saying that they’re all adapted just for swamps is a
gross <span style="font-family: inherit;">over-generalization</span> of <span style="font-family: inherit;">H</span>adrosauria.</span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 107%;">And now, we have what is possibly the <b><span style="font-family: inherit;">worst</span> </b>model in the entire series: the <i>Quetzalcoatlus</i>.
Not only is this model too large, has completely wrong proportions in every
area, and is living the wrong type of lifestyle considering what we know of
azhdarchid pterosaurs, but some idiot decided to give it teeth. This is a
Jurassic Park 3-level mistake people<span style="font-family: inherit;">!</span></span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 107%;">Branagh says a throwaway line that
pterosaurs are in worldwide decline and that there are only giants like <i>Quetzalcoatlus</i> left. This was based on
the general lack of other pterosaur fossils from the latest Cretaceous, with
only azhdarchids and a few members of <span style="font-family: inherit;">P</span>teranodontia surviving to the end.
However, this lack of other pterosaur groups might have more to do with a lack
of fossil deposits with a bias towards small animals in the late Cretaceous, rather
than an extinction event. Moreover, we now know of quite a few “small-ish”
pterosaurs (man-sized or smaller) from the late Cretaceous, and there’s
apparently an unpublished azhdarchid which has a wingspan of less than a meter
from the</span> <span style="line-height: 107%;">Maastrichtian.</span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 107%;">Branagh doesn’t say it outright, but in
this episode, as well as the fourth, he makes strong suggestions towards the
idea that pterosaurs were out-competed by birds. Even assuming pterosaur
diversity might’ve dropped towards the end of the Cretaceous, every study which
has explored this possibility has found absolutely no correlation between bird
diversification and pterosaur decline. Moreover, birds were not invading any of
the niches that some pterosaurs held millions of years before (except for <i>maybe</i> those held by some
rhamphorhynchoids), which is what we would expect from competitive exclusion.</span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 107%;">We see some clips of a “giant crocodile”
that appears to be hunting the <i>Quetzalcoatlus</i>.
This animal was based on <i>Deinosuchus</i>,
which lived about 10 million years earlier, was a giant alligatoroid, rather
than a crocodylid, and we have no evidence of from Hell Creek. However, there
are rumors of unpublished remains of another very large alligatoroid from Hell
Creek, so I guess that could be what these are based on.</span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 107%;">After the female rex chases off her mate
for being a bad bed partner, she makes a nest and lays her eggs in a rotting
compost pile. However, Branagh then says that she’s going to remain by the nest
for <b><span style="font-family: inherit;">two months (<span style="font-family: inherit;">!)</span></span></b> without moving, eating, or drinking. Can a elephant-sized
predatory animal go that long without eating? Some whales can do this in order
to make it through their migrations, but they have layers of blubber and fat to
survive off (which the shrink-wrapped rex is obviously lacking). This is probably
based off the behaviors of some ratites and crocodilians, but both of those
groups are much smaller than a rex, the latter has an ectothermic metabolism,
and even they occasionally leave to at least get a drink.</span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 107%;">Branagh says that it was a comet that
killed the dinosaurs, not an asteroid like i<span style="font-family: inherit;">s</span> more typically stated. <a href="http://www.space.com/20354-dinosaur-extinction-caused-by-comet.html">This
does reflect a recent study though.</a></span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 107%;">Speaking of which, should the meteorite’s
debris in the form of shooting stars be visible almost three to four months
prior to the impact? I’m not an astronomer, but I don’t think the orbits of
either the planet or asteroid would make them visible so early.</span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 107%;">Two 2 meter long, turkey-sized <i>Dromaeosaurus</i> are taking on a whole herd
of 8-9 meter, elephant-sized <i>Torosaurus</i>.
This has bad idea written all over it.</span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-synthesis: weight style; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"></span></span><span style="line-height: 107%;">The two dromaeosaurids manage to isolate a
baby <i>Torosaurus</i>, which might seem
like a smart idea on the predator’s part, but when they do, they just scream at
it a few times and let it run away back to the adults. Why…?</span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 107%;">Eh, I guess they manage to kill a baby
anyways, but then Branagh uses it as an excuse to explain that “dinosaurs are
dying and on their last legs” even further, even though this idea is seriously
lacking in both true facts presented in the documentary, as well as actual
scientific evidence.</span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 107%;">Back to the <i>Edmontosaurus</i>, they reach a small grove of trees with freshwater
and are about to be ambushed by the “<i>Deinosuchus</i>”,
but then the group senses danger and starts to break up, followed by the
appearance of the mama <i>T. rex</i>. This
scene is actually pretty fa<span style="font-family: inherit;">st</span>-paced and well played out, and the part where the
rex catches the <i>Edmontosaurus</i> looks
just like a true nature documentary. Just my own observations though.</span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 107%;">The mother <i>T. rex</i> produced far too few offspring, especially based on what we know of fossilized <span style="font-family: inherit;">theropod</span> nests.
Big theropod nests, like seen in <i>Allosaurus</i>
and <i>Torvosaurus </i>have nests with <span style="font-family: inherit;">nearly</span>
50 eggs preserved, and a</span> <i><span style="line-height: 107%;">Lourinhanosaurus</span></i><span style="line-height: 107%;"> nest had well
over 100 eggs (although there have some suggestions that it might be
a communal clutch). We should expect similar large clutches from <i>T. rex</i>, not twelve eggs with only three
viable chicks<i>.</i></span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 107%;">The baby <i>T. rex</i> don’t look like what we know of infant <i>T. rex</i>. These infants don’t have the right proportions, and I’m
sure I speak for everyone when I say they should be fluffy. They also behave a bit too much like modern predatory bird chicks, with larger offspring killing <span style="font-family: inherit;">their younger offspring</span> for the right<span style="font-family: inherit;"> to eat</span> food.</span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 107%;">Their mom also feeds them meat from the <i>Edmontosaurus</i> she killed earlier. Based
on what we know of living archosaurs, dinosaur young could probably feed
themselves soon after hatching without much help from their mother. Though, there
are <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/tetrapodzoology/2008/11/08/crocs-feed-their-babies/">some
interesting cases of mother crocodiles possibly feeding their young</a>, so this might
be possible<span style="font-family: inherit;">.</span> </span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 107%;">Apparently the babies are over a meter
high at only 4 weeks old!? Wow! That’s some fast growth considering they come
out of football-sized eggs. That’s the same size as <a href="http://cdn.phys.org/newman/gfx/news/hires/2011/thegalleryin.jpg">Jordan, a
2-year-old specimen housed at LANHM</a>. I’m pretty sure even sauropods and
whales don’t grow this fast.</span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 107%;">Branagh then says that the babies are only
going to have protection from mom for a mere two months before she then views
them as food. In fact, crocodilians apparently recognize their young throughout
ontogeny, and some mother crocs (and sometimes even fathers) have been known to
recognize and protect their offspring (and the offspring of others) for over
three years after they first emerge.</span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><span style="line-height: 107%;">Didelphodon</span></i><span style="line-height: 107%;">
are growling and squealing at the chicks, as if spiting them. “You dinosaurs shall rue the
day! You hear me! Rue it!” – <i>Didelphodon</i>,
66 million BC.</span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 107%;">There’s a boa cameoing in this episode as
the Cretaceous snake <i>Dinilysia</i>. Never
mind the fact that <i>Dinilysia</i> is from South
America and lived 20 million years earlier in the Santonian, but why go to the
trouble when we already know of quite a few snakes from Hell Creek already? We even
have possibly the earliest known true boid from Hell Creek, which would match
this live-action boa’s description greatly.</span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 107%;">Branagh says that snakes only recently
evolved, which isn’t necessarily true, as we know of crown-group snake fossils
from as far back as the Cenomanian, 30 million years earlier, and if we’re referring
to the snake branch as a whole (Ophidia), the earliest proto-snakes are from
Jurassic times.</span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 107%;">Apparently the <i>Dinilysia</i> has heat-sensing pits on its snout. While this honestly
could be true, given that facial pits developed multiple times independently in
snakes<span style="font-family: inherit;">. Still though,</span> it just adds more reason for this snake to be classified as a boid, as
the<span style="font-family: inherit;"> family actually</span> developed facial pits multipl<span style="font-family: inherit;">e</span> times independently throughout their
evolution.</span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><span style="line-height: 107%;">Ankylosaurus</span></i><span style="line-height: 107%;">
walks into the nest, startles the mother, and causes her to go on offensive
mode to protect her offspring. Though, wouldn’t it be a better idea though just
to usher the offspring away from the <i>Ankylosaurus</i>?
It’s not like the babies are in danger: they’re standing far-off in a bush
behind mom while she is facing the ankylosaur.</span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 107%;">Boom. One-hit from the <i>Ankylosaurus’</i> tail and mom’s femur is
broken and she has massive internal injuries. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AE6klsSO2vE">Jurassic World could learn
from this scene</a>; ankylosaur tail clubs are not things to take lightly.</span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 107%;">The mother dies from the injury a day
later, leaving the poor babies to face the full-force of the extinction event <span style="font-family: inherit;">by them<span style="font-family: inherit;">selves</span></span>. I still stand by my opinion that this <span style="font-family: inherit;">one</span> minute of footage is one of
the most realistic versions of the extinction event ever, and does a better job
of explaining the extinction event than many documentaries just focused on just
the extinction part.</span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 107%;">“…the giant dinosaurs were gone, never to
return.” – Depends on what you mean by “giant”, but there were a lot of really <span style="font-family: inherit;">big </span>birds that appeared after this event.</span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 107%;">And ending the series on a good note of
saying that birds <span style="font-family: inherit;">are </span>dinosaurs, and not the normal opt-out that other
documentaries try to do saying they are “related to dinosaurs”. Bravo.</span></span></span></li>
</ul>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">And there we go, that was everything I noticed while watching the <i>Walking With Dinosaurs</i> series again. What do I say about the series as a whole? Ehhhhhhhhh, to be perfectly honest, it's really, really dated, a<span style="font-family: inherit;">s you should be able to</span> tell from all the notes<span style="font-family: inherit;">,</span> and no amount of nostalgic feeling can change that. Almost everything that the series first presented in 1999 has changed, and that's mostly due to the speculative nature of the documentary itself. As I brought up in my first post, many paleontologists did not like the series when it first came out because it was way to speculative for it's own <span style="font-family: inherit;">good</span>, and the creators even admitted to making presentation and awe more important than scientific data<span style="font-family: inherit;">.</span> </span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">You can't really make a documentary series like this, present <i><b>soo </b></i>many life-history details about these animals, and expect it to hold up more than 15 years later.</span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">That all being said, while the educational value of <i>Walking With Dinosaurs</i> has waned over the years, and it's certainly not something that I would consider recommending to someone who wants to learn about the Mesozoic, that doesn't mean it isn't worth looking at, at least among paleo-fans. <i>Walking With Dinosaurs</i> does a better job at telling you what people <b><i>thought</i></b> these animals were like at the time than it does teaching you what they were actually like, and in that way, it's actually a pretty good time capsule back to the dinosaur-craze of the 90s. In that respect, it might be best to view <i>Walking With Dinosaurs</i> in the same way as some people enjoy looking at old dinosaur movies or vintage paleontological artwork: nostalgia-inducing fun, but nothing more.</span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
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<a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/8c/Walkingwithdinosdvdcover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/8c/Walkingwithdinosdvdcover.jpg" width="293" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">7.2/10 </span></span></span></span></span></b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-size: large;">Nostalgia for people who loved the "Dinosaur Revolution" of the 70s threw late 90s, but of little value for newcomers.</span> </span></span></span></span></span></div>
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">And with that, I give you an <span style="font-family: inherit;">adieu</span>. There are plenty more paleontological shows and documentaries to look at in the future, as well as a ton of <i>Walking With...</i> spin offs that I might eventually cover, but for now I think I'll just get back into blogging. Oh, and that thing called "school", 'cause I got<span style="font-family: inherit;"> to</span> do that too...</span></span></span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7121600678088328777.post-3513395070763210222015-10-30T14:17:00.002-07:002015-10-30T18:49:34.571-07:00A Paleonerd's Analysis - BBC's Walking With Dinosaurs Part 2<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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</xml><![endif]--><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Well then, amongst the <a href="https://www.fossilera.com/blog/first-giant-raptor-dromaeosaur-described-from-hell-creek-formation">paleo-media sensation which is <i>Dakotaraptor</i></a>, I just managed to finish Part 2 of my analytical dive the series which is <i>Walking With Dinosaurs</i>. If you haven't read my analysis of the first two episodes, you can be sure to check them out <a href="http://nmpdn.blogspot.com/2015/10/a-paleonerds-analysis-bbcs-walking-with.html">here</a>. For those of you which have, however, this next part will be covering the third and fourth episodes of the series, <b><u>Cruel Sea</u></b> and <b><u>Giant of the Skies</u></b>. Oh, and if you haven't heard about <i>Dakotaraptor </i>yet, go now! It's awesome! Seriously, I'll wait for you. Heck, maybe I'll even find the time to write a post on it.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Like last time, these notes are not just limited to me checking over the facts presented, but
just observations on a variety of things in the series, good and bad (but mostly bad). I will also not go into too much detail about all the animal models, as that would take WAY too much time and probably end up sounding rather repetitive.</span></span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><u><b>Cruel Sea</b></u></span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="http://asset-manager.bbcchannels.com/i/2cyhb0mo07k1000" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://asset-manager.bbcchannels.com/i/2cyhb0mo07k1000" height="209" width="640" /></a></span></span></div>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Only
15 seconds in and we’re already over-embellishing this <i>Liopleurodon</i> by giving
a poor <i>Eustreptospondylus</i> the axe.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Also,
how the heck did the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Liopleurodon</i> get
that close to shore? I’m sure we all know that the moment an eighty foot long
animal tried to do that, it’d be beached.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">The
idea for the above probably came from knowledge that orcas will skid to catch
prey in shallow water, but even then orcas are much smaller than this <i>Liopleurodon</i>,
and they preform it on sandy beaches, not rocky slopes.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Time
frame is Oxfordshire during the Tithonian 149 mya. Most of the animals in this
episode actually do manage to hail from Oxford, but a lot are actually from the older Oxfordian (157.3–163.5 mya). <b>(Hint: <i>note the names…</i>)</b></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Speaking
of things too heavy to haul out on land, how the heck are the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Cryptoclidus</i>, which the documentary says
weigh eight tons, hauling themselves around a beach?</span></span></li>
<li>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Also,
recent discoveries have shown that cryptocleidoid plesiosaurs had tail
flukes, which was a surprise when first announced in 2010. Nobody knows how or
if they worked in locomotion, but they still definitely had them.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">The
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Rhamphorhynchus</i> are skimming. Short
answer: this probably didn’t happen. Long answer: <a href="http://markwitton-com.blogspot.com/2013/07/rhamphomummies-and-zombie-skim-feeders.html">read Mark’s post over on his blog</a>.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Also,
the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Rhamphorhynchus</i> have some really
ugly models, even by the standards at which scientists often describe them as
snagly-toothed ugly little bulldog-pterosaur things.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">“Most
sea reptiles return to the land to lay eggs” – Presumably they’re talking about
other marine reptiles at the time with that statement, but that seems no longer
true. In fact live birth is now known in almost every major group of Mesozoic marine reptiles (sea turtles are an exception), or can be inferred from their anatomy. </span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Speaking
of which, I also wish they expanded on the possibility of parental care in
ichthyosaurs. Sure it’s a bit speculative, but there’s a
close correlation between live birth and parental care in reptiles (there are outliers from this trend though).</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Bit
glad that they mentioned that the sharks were honing in on the pregnant <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Ophthalmosaurus</i> via hearing rather than
the rather stereotypical explanation of smell.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Oh
crap the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Liopleurodon</i> is back. What?
No I’m not worrying about the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Ophthalmosaurus</i>, I’m worried about the number of
inaccuracies and embellishments I need to sit through.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Wait,
when the back half of the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Ophthalmosaurus</i>
hits the seafloor, it no longer has the tail of the baby sticking out of its
cloaca. Did it escape the jaws of the pliosaur?</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Few
people know the story of why the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Liopleurodon</i>
in this episode is so big, so I’ll explain. Some early size estimates based on
the scaling of a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Liopleurodon</i> skulls
found that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Liopleurodon</i> might’ve
reached something like 12 meters in length based on some of the larger Oxford
skulls. These same models were then used in another study which scaled the
skull’s teeth up to the same sizes observed in the bones of some cryptocleidoid
plesiosaurs, thus producing some ridiculous 25 meter estimates, which was used
in the documentary. Obvious to say, these methods of scaling were shown to not
be very accurate. Later, more accurate modeling methods based on what was known
from more complete pliosaurs (notably the Australian <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Kronosaurus</i>) shrunk <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Liopleurodon</i>
down to a much more believable 6 meters in length that it is today.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Going
with the idea that its 25 meters long, I should probably note that animals of
this size DO NOT like to live so close to shore. Even orcas, which are only
around 7 meters long, actively avoid shallow reef-like waters while hunting
because it doesn’t provide enough space to launch hunts or ambushes. An animal
of this size should be living in the open ocean far away from reefs.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Liopleurodon</i>. At 150 tons, it is the
largest and most powerful carnivore ever to live on the planet.” - Sounds like
something I’d expect someone pandering to fanboys to say. Quickly! Someone
write an awesomebro fanfic about the WWD <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Liopleurodon</i>
fighting the Jurassic World <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Mosasaurus</i>!
You’ll make millions!</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">“His
size means he is probably over 100 years old.” – I object to that. Do we even
have any studies on pliosaur/plesiosaur longevity? I don’t ever remember seeing
one.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">There’s
a mention rather briefly about how <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Liopleurodon</i>
smells its prey using a water-movement system in the nostrils as “radars to
hone in on prey”. Presumably this is a butchered explanation of the dual waterflow system in pliosaurs (and possibly other marine reptiles), in which water enters the mouth, flows through the nasal cavity, and exits the nostrils, allowing for a constantly active sense of smell.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">The
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Ophthalmosaurus</i> hide in underwater
caves at night for protection against predators, despite the fact that, you
know, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">they need to breathe</b>.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">The
way that the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Eustreptospondylus</i> in
this episode manages to swim should be some kind of meme. I’m not sure what the
meme would be for, but it would be downright hilarious.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">The
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Eustreptospondylus</i> is presented as
some kind of specialist sea-combing dinosaur. This speculation, as far as I
know, is unique to the documentary as I cannot find any specific suggestions
for this lifestyle prior to the show’s airing. I think it was presented because
the only known specimen of this genus was found in the ocean near an island,
but it could equally be parsimonious to say that the animal was simply washed
out to sea from a larger island area. There are no particular traits in its
anatomy suggesting a sea-combing lifestyle.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Two
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Eustreptospondylus</i> squabble briefly
over a “sea turtle” plastron. Given that modern type sea turtles first appeared
during the Cretaceous, this plastron is probably meant to be from a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Plesiochelys</i>, which were a major component
of Late Jurassic shallow water ecosystems, but not true sea turtles themselves.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">There’s
a brief scene where a young <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Rhamphorhynchus</i>
digs into some tree bark looking for beetle larvae. Interestingly, despite
the obvious diet of seafood in older induviduals, “flapling” <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Rhamphorhynchus</i> (and many other pterosaurs for that matter) show
short, triangular snouts which might prove superbly adapted to feeding on small
invertebrate prey. Sadly, the individual itself doesn’t look at all like what
we know of “flapling” specimens, simply being a shrunken down juvenile. (Note that
most <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Rhamphorhynchus</i> specimens are of
half-grown juveniles, with only a handful of true adults known.)</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">After
a group of horseshoe crabs breed, a flock of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Rhamphorhynchus</i> settle down to feed on their eggs. Not sure if this
is based off the behaviors known for migrating <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Calidris
canutus</i>, but it seems so.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Ok,
this is weird. While the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Rhamphorhynchus</i>
are feeding, a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Eustreptospondylus</i>
tries to snag one while they’re preoccupied. If you follow the movement of its
jaws closely, you can clearly see it grab two separate <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Rhamphorhynchus</i>, let both of them go, and then finally settles on a
third one it manages to pin beneath its foot. Um… why?</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Also,
these poor <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Rhamphorhynchus</i> aren’t
utilizing proper quadrupedal launch. Instead they’re just skipping across the
ground on their hind legs flapping their forearms aimlessly. No wonder they’re
so easy to grab while taking off.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Just
noticed this now, but the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Eustreptospondylus</i>
puppet model has its earhole in the wrong place. Dinosaurs had their ears
behind their skulls, not on top of the temporal fenestra. Having it in the
place shown here, it wouldn’t be able to hear at all because there’s a major
jaw muscle in the way.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Back
in the ocean, another female <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Liopleurodon</i>
shows up in the male’s territory, which leads the male to confront her in a
fight. This is rather strange, as I’d expect the male to be more interested in
mating. Didn’t we just clarify a little while ago that it was still the mating
season for other marine reptiles? Why are the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Liopleurodon</i> acting different?</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">“Her
flipper has been badly ripped...” – Looks fine to me. There isn’t even any visual
trauma on it as she swims off.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">After the big storm, the big male<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> Liopleurodon</i> becomes stranded on a beach. See, that’s what
happens when you’re a 150 ton animal living in a shallow-water reef ecosystem.
You’re basically asking to get stranded.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Also, the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Liopleurodon</i> looks at lot smaller than
80ft when lying out on the beach next to the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Eustreptospondylus</i>. It appears to be 50ft maximum, which might be in line with the largest unpublished pliosaur specimens.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">“The
greatest carnivore the Earth has ever seen.” – I can hear the fanboys panting. Stop it. Don't encourage them.</span></span></li>
</ul>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><u><b>Giant of the Skies</b></u></span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/walkingwith/images/8/84/Ornithocheirus-promo.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20130615091451" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/walkingwith/images/8/84/Ornithocheirus-promo.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20130615091451" height="257" width="640" /></a></span></span></div>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">“In
life he was the most magnificent beast ever to take to the wing.” - <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Quetzalcoatlus</i> is pretty magnificent too,
and we knew it was more massive than <i><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Tropeognathus</span></i>
at the time this series was made. Then again, I guess that is all interpretative.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">The
model used by the documentary has minute pycnofibres on it, but most of the
body still looks like bare skin. This doesn’t fit in with what we know (and
knew at the time) about pterosaur body coverings.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Time
frame is 127 mya, which would be the Barremian period of the early Cretaceous.
However, half of the animals in this episode are actually from the <span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Albian (</span>100.5 - 113.0 mya), including the <i><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Tropeognathus</span></i><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">,</span> and one
is even from the Cenomanian (93.9–100.5 mya).</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Also, </span>Branagh
states that the continents by the early Cretaceous had only just started to
break up outside of the typical Laurasia-Gondwana distribution. While that
might be true for some parts of Gondwana (notably the tentative dates behind
the separation of South American and Africa), the rest of the world should have
already been breaking up since at least the middle Jurassic. Heck, the last
episode was all about the broken island chains that would eventually become
Europe.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">It’s now <i>Tropeognathus
</i></span><i>mesembrinus</i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">, not <i>Ornithocheirus</i>, as this species was found to be distinct
enough to warrant its own genus.</span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Size
is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">WAY</b> too exaggerated on the <i><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Tropeognathus</span></i><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">. Even for the
time, I’m pretty sure the 12 meter estimated wingspans were heavily doubted by
the scientific community. Most modern estimates put it around 6-7 meters, which
is roughly the same size as other giant flying oceanic avemetatarsalians (<i>Pteranodon</i>,
<i>Pelagornis</i>, etc.). Brings up an interesting question as to why they all
group around this size…</span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">The <i><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Tropeognathus</span></i> holds a human-like, bipedal stance for a few moments while it’s landing. David
Peters, anyone?</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">The
specific species of “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Tapejara</i>” used
in the episode, <i>T. navigans</i> was reclassified to the genus <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Tupandactylus</i> in 2007. Also, they are completely disproportionate, and based on what we now know about
tapejarid pterosaurs, this group were probably inland-dwelling omnivores, not oceanic
piscivores.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">“…but
on the land they are cumbersome” - That’s true for some specialist oceanic
species featured in the show, like <i><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Tropeognathus
</span></i>and possibly <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Rhamphorhynchus</i>,
but almost every other pterosaur featured on the show were competent walkers,
and possibly even runners in the case of many azhdarchoids like the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Tupandactylus</i>.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">They
show different-sized crests for males and females, which predicted the actual
discovery of sexual dimorphism in pterosaur crests.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">“What
he is about to undertake, is the most astounding journey in the animal
kingdom.” First of all, how the hell do you know that Kenneth Branagh? Second,
have you ever heard of a little bird called <i>Sterna paradisaea?</i><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"> Flying from Brazil to Europe across an
Atlantic (which is only half the size it is today) cannot compare to what tiny
little <i>Sterna paradisaea</i> do twice every year.</span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">The
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“Iguanodon”</i> the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Tropeognathus</i> encounters in North America were reclassified to the
genus <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Dakotadon</i>. Also, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Dakotadon</i> are from South Dakota, while Branagh
claims that the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Tropeognathus</i> had
only just reached the southern tip of North America. That’s like seeing wild <span class="st">American plains bison </span><i><span class="st">(Bison bison bison)</span></i> in Central American rainforests…</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">The
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Polacanthus</i> accompanying the herd is even more
lost. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Polacanthus</i> fossils are only
known from Britain, not North America. I guess this could possibly be a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Gastonia</i> (which the WWD model somewhat
resembles), but even then it’s the same problem that the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Dakotadon</i> have.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Tropeognathus</i>, an oceanic
pterosaur which probably spent months flying out over the sea at any given time
and would probably need to encounter storms regularly, can’t fly in rain.
People really need to stop underestimating what pterosaurs were capable of. So
glad we have such great pterosaur experts now setting our views of these
animals straight.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">“[<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Iguanodon</i>] are among the most successful
dinosaurs on the planet, populating every continent…” – <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Then, everything changed when the taxon splitters attacked…</b></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Branagh
says that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Iguanodon</i> were the first
large herbivorous animals capable of advanced chewing. If he is referring to the
Iguanodontia as a whole and not just <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Iguanodon</i>,
I guess that’s somewhat true, but many other groups of dinosaurs could also
masticate and developed advanced chewing techniques at around the same time.
(Ankylosaurs come to mind, for example.)</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">There’s
a short segment about how flowers "originated" in the Cretaceous. Depends a bit on what you mean by "originated". True flowering plant fossils are known from the Early Cretaceous, 130 mya, but what looks like angiosperm pollen has been found from as far back as the Triassic, and some molecular clocks suggest the ancestors of true angiosperms split off from other plant groups 300 mya. Still, if they're going by "true flowers", then I guess this is true as well.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">We
get a cool look at what we thought at the time to be the parasitic flea-like
creature called <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Saurophthyrus</i>. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Saurophthyrus</i> and other insects like it
were once thought to be specialist pterosaur parasites, using their elongate
blood-sucking mouthparts to feed on the blood-filled wing membranes of
pterosaurs. More recent studies have been more skeptical of them being
“pterosaur specialists,” as their mouthparts don’t seem any more specialized to
specifically pterosaurs than they do various other Mesozoic animals.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">The
pterosaurs be-a-skimming. As I mentioned above with <i>Rhamphorhynchus</i><span class="st">, </span>this needs to stop.</span></span></li>
<li>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">The
pliosaur in this episode is officially listed as being <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Plesiopleurodon, </i>despite being just re-used stock footage of the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Liopleurodon</i> from last episode. Either way, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Plesiopleurodon</i> is known from the
Cenomanian of North America 98 mya, not the Barremian 127 mya, so both are equally distant in time (give or take 20 to 30 million years) from the age this is supposed to be set.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">While
bringing up the pliosaur, Branagh also mentions that there’s dangers to flying
low over the ocean, as if the pliosaur is actually going to jump up and eat our
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Tropeognathus</i>. This, of course, goes
back to early paleoart showing marine reptiles jumping out of the water to try
and catch pterosaurs, but it’s always been a stupid idea IMO. How is massive
marine predator going to manage to jump out of the water at a small,
fast-moving animal <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">in flight</b> when,
by the time it’s in view and you’re ready to strike, it’s already passed by?
Moreover, how worth it is it to do this to eat something that weighs, at the
absolute most, only about 50 kg? This concept has always sounded incredibly
stupid to me.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Ok,
this “European species” of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Iguanodon</i>
seems to confidently be <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Iguanodon <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">bernissartensis</span></i>, and not one of
the countless European iguanodonts that was lumped into its genus at the
time. The model itself also looks great, and actually manages to stay
pretty accurate to this day. Unlike the next critter...</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">And
now, for the moment you’ve all been waiting for…<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> *Drumroll*</b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> UTAHraptor</i>
in EUROPE!</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Is
it just me, or are the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Utahraptor</i>
models are <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">really</i> ugly? Not only are
they shrink-wrapped and look anorexic, but they have a lot of features in the
skull and neck which remind me of varanid lizards. (Not that varanids aren’t
beautiful animals, just that it’s a bad reference.) Oh, and they have their
ears in the temporal fenestra too. Is this a problem with all the models that I'm just now noticing?</span></span></li>
<li>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">“…long
fingers help [the female <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Utahraptor</i>]
to latch onto swift-moving, larger prey…” Dromaeosaur fingers were pretty
immobile and stiff, actually, which likely helped keep their wings strait.
However, juveniles had more flexible fingers than adults, which with a growing
body of evidence suggests that they might have been partially arboreal while
young.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">After
the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Utahraptor</i> is unsuccessful at
jumping on the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Iguanodon</i>, the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Iguanodon</i> stops running, turns around, and seems to be
taunting it for a moment. A lot of large herbivorous mammals actually do similar things, so
I wonder if that’s what they were going for.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Branagh
says that dromaeosaurids were not fast runners, but rather had the short,
stalky legs of a sprinting and wrestling animal. Finally! A documentary that
gets this trait common to dromaeosaurinae correct.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">I’ve
noticed that the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Utahraptor</i>, despite
having no wing feathers, are actually managing to hold their forelimbs
consistently in a bird-like pose, even while running. Props on them for getting
this right, as even recent documentaries incorporating feathers have a tendency to have the hands droop or be held in odd positions.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">“These
though are birds, flying dinosaurs that share the same ancestors as the
carnivorous raptors. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u>Instead of
scales, they have evolved feathers…</u></b>” If only they knew... <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinosauropteryx">Oh wait, they already did…</a></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">He
mentions
something about feathered wings being more resistant to damage than
membranous wings. Not sure exactly how true this is, but bats can manage
to fly
around with huge holes in their wings and are still competent in the
air, so I don't think a few bumps or scrapes would really effect a
pterosaur's wings.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">When
the old male finally makes it to the mating grounds we see that the female <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Tropeognathus</i> have sexually dimorphic
jaw crests. There have been proposed cases of sexual dimorphism in the crests
of <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">ornithocheirid</span> pterosaurs,
but it has not been studied in detail or confirmed, despite the large number of
fossils perfectly available for such a study. <b>(Wink, wink, nudge, nudge…)</b></span></span></li>
</ul>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Whew, that was a lot of note-taking. A lot of stuff certainly has changed in the time since the series aired, but with these last two episodes at least, I was still able to find some admirable things about them. Will definitely be fun to look at the last two episodes soon. I remember the fifth episode in particular to having always been my favorite growing up, so I'm definitely psyched to get to that one soon.<br /><br />Cheers!<br /><br />P.S. If you don't know what <i>Dakotaraptor </i>is by the end of this post, shame on you. Go look it up right now.</span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7121600678088328777.post-37243078674946437422015-10-24T21:52:00.002-07:002015-10-30T14:33:19.919-07:00A Paleonerd's Analysis - BBC's Walking With Dinosaurs Part 1<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/8c/Walkingwithdinosdvdcover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/8c/Walkingwithdinosdvdcover.jpg" /></a></span></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Not to be confused with the telepathic <i>Pachyrhinosaurus </i>of a certain 2013 movie.</span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>Walking with Dinosaurs</i> was a landmark documentary series which first aired in the Spring of 1999 and remains to be relatively popular today. The series took a novel approach to educating people about dinosaurs by using actual wilderness and backdrops of nature alongside CGI and mechanical puppets of extinct animals in an effort to simulate a <i>Planet Earth</i> or <i>Life</i>-style nature documentary. And it worked too, as the <i>Walking with...</i> series has come to span a large range of media, including two sequel series, a prequel miniseries, three spin-off specials featuring Nigel Marvin, a spin-off that Nigel himself started which was based off the spin offs he was featured in, a computer game, an arena spectacular show, a movie featuring telepathic <i>Pachyrhinosaurus</i>, a better version of said movie without telepathic dinosaurs, a spiritual successor, and endless merchandise that's too vast for me to list off.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">However, one thing many people forget about this series is just how controversial it was when it first came out, especially among paleontologists. Even today minds are split on how much the show put a big emphasis on speculation and sensationalism rather than using a much more factual approach. The creators of the original series have said that their goal was to entertain, and that since theories about prehistoric animals are always changing, they couldn't possibly keep up with informational input. Even at the time the series came out, there was a number of "facts" presented which were wrong, and many more ideas which were correct at the time have since become dated.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">This all made me curious just how much the show has aged with time, as well as how our view of these animals has changed too. So, after something like seven years, I sat down and decided to watch the series again. I'm still looking through the other episodes again and jotting down notes, but as soon as the next batch has been viewed I will be sure to post my observations here.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Here's some notes of things I noticed while watching the first two episodes of the series: <b>First Blood</b> and <b>Time of Titans</b>. Keep in mind that these notes are not just limited to facts presented, but also just observations I experienced about the show as a whole. I'll also try to note if the fact presented was true at the time or not, but just assume when reading through that the info was unknown at the time. Note also that I'm not going to go into too much detail about all the animal models, as I would take WAY too much time on the theropods alone. (i.e. broken wrists, shrink wrapped, tail too skinny, feather this, feather that, etc.)</span></span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="font-size: large;">-New Blood-</span></u></b></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m3zd8iT4YA1rrpn3bo1_500.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m3zd8iT4YA1rrpn3bo1_500.jpg" height="253" width="400" /></a></span></span></div>
</div>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">The
program claims to take place in the Chinle Formation 220 mya, which would
correlate roughly to the Blue Mesa and Sonsela Members of the formation. If
that's the case, the environment is all wrong. Much of the Chinle 220 mya was a
huge, dense swamp with a number of meandering rivers, and fossil preservation
shows dense vegetation, large fish, massive metoposaurs, and phytosaurs making
up a big portion of the fauna. It was only during the younger Owl Rock Member
(~207 mya) that the environment started to become much more arid and
desert-like.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Tying
into the above, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Coelophysis</i> remains
are supposedly from the Petrified Forest Member of the Chinle (~211 mya), which
puts the star of this episode ~10 million years later in time than presented in
the documentary. This can also be said for a number of other animals in the
series as a whole, but I'll get to them when they come.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"></span>Kenneth Branagh (the
narrator) is treating dinosaurs like they're some ultimate animals which are
better than everything else in every single way. This reflects a lot of
thinking in the late 1990s that dinosaurs were somehow superior to all other
Triassic reptiles, but in fact, most recent research shows that they were not
very unique in regards to anatomy, and in fact there were many other archosaurs
(particularly things like <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Postosuchus</i>
and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Effigia</i>) which had almost all the
same abilities dinosaurs had. Current consensus is that, as is the case with
many evolution and extinction scenarios, dinosaurs just happened to get lucky
and survived the Triassic-Jurassic Extinction event, allowing for their
diversification.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">I
know at the time nobody really cared and that some people still don't, but can
we please stop referring to synapsids as "reptiles?" They're not
"reptiles", nor are they "mammal-like reptiles". Proper terminology would be stem-mammals, proto-mammals, or, ya know, just "synapsids".</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">The
whole comment by Branagh on how the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Placerias</i>
are the last of their kind and an "endangered species" might sound
overly poetic, but in fact <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Placerias</i>
are only known from the very lowest parts of the Chinle, suggesting they
disappeared rather early in the formation's history. Still, an “endangered species”
title is rather bizarre choice of words.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">The
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Placerias</i> are <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">so slow</i></b>. Seriously, why?
I understand they're big herbivores with semi-sprawling feet, but Hippos are
pretty fast runners, and crocodilians can gallop, so why? I know tortoises who can outrun these things.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">The
"cynodonts" in the show are probably based off <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Kraterokheirodon colberti</i> teeth in the
Chinle. Although initially assigned to cynodonts, a 2005 study found them to be
very distinctive to the point that they can't be confidently assigned to any
known amniote group, leaving no evidence of cynodonts in the formation.</span></span></li>
<li>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">WWD
had hairy, milk-producing proto-mammals before it was cool. Although, they do
seem strangely a bit too carnivoran-like in behavior. Not that that's a bad thing.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>"Postosuchus,
a merciless ambush predator. The largest carnivore on Earth."</i> Any number
of the 6+ meter phytosaurs from the same formation would like to object to
that. Also, <i>Poposaurus </i>got nearly as big as <i>Postosuchus</i>, and there were even bigger rauisuchids from elsewhere in the world at the same time. <i>Postosuchus </i>is far from the largest.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>Postosuchus
</i>has upright limbs, long hind legs, and was recently shown to be
capable of bipedal movement. So why the heck is it so slow? Seriously, all the
animals outside of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Coelophysis</i> are
moving at a snail's pace. I feel this is all a plot just to make the dinosaurs seem more interesting.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Peteinosaurus</i> is from northern
Italy, not the Chinle formation. Given, there are small isolated pterosaur bones from
Chinle, but they seem to come from a very different type of animal than <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Peteinosaurus</i>. (The Chinle specimen/s seem to be more similar to <i>Eudimorphodon</i>.)</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Everyone
always says in these documentaries that pterosaur wing membranes were delicate.
Never mind most of the work that's come out (especially in recent years)
talking about the layers upon layers of tissue reinforcements that's been found
in their wings.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>Peteinosaurus
</i>hunting dragonflies. <a href="https://twitter.com/TetZoo/status/657611678125715456">I'll let Darren explain why this is unlikely</a>.</span></span><blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">"Sorry, I still think it's dumb when artists show prehistoric animals
chasing dragonflies. Have you ever tried to chase a dragonfly?" - Darren Naish</span></span></blockquote>
</li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Seriously
though, early pterosaurs including <i>Peteinosaurus </i>don't show the
best flight
capabilities, and much of their anatomy suggests they hunted prey (like
lizards, small mammal-y things, and decent-sized insects) on the ground
rather
than in the air. It was only more specialized pterosaurs like
anurognathids which developed the wings and bodies to catch flying
insects, and even these animals likely lacked the speed required to
catch high-speed insects like dragonflies regularly.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">The
wound on the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Postosuchus'</i> thigh
really doesn't look that bad considering the injuries most Mesozoic archosaurs
have been shown to live through, and she doesn't even really limp. I guess <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Postosuchus</i> are just really wimpy. (Pro-dinosaur propaganda, say!)</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">With
their dinosaur-chasing abilities and constant snarling, I'm wondering if
cynodonts were the honey badgers of the Triassic. Was that the
actual inspiration for their behaviors in the show? Heck if I know.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">I
might be wrong, but the male <i>Postosuchus </i>marks his territory with urine, which
is pretty mammal-like and not what I think is typical of most reptiles. Most reptiles use visual signals to
assert dominance, and when marking with scent they tend to use pheromones or
"musk" rather than urine. If anyone knows otherwise, please tell me.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">"...the
dinosaur’s unique serrated teeth..." Uh, serrated teeth is a pretty common
trait among reptiles, and animals in general. It sounds like they're trying to make
dinosaurs look ultra-superior or something, but it just comes off as goofy.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Something
for future dinosaur documentary makers to keep note: <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">DON'T</b> make your animals scream, squeal, roar, screech, hiss, and
call <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">ENDLESSLY</b> when they're just
wandering around foraging. During confrontations, communication, and courtship
behavior its fine, but these <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Coelophysis</i>
are screeching every second for no good reason. And yes, it's really annoying.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">How
does a tiny wound on a single leg lead to full hindleg paralysis? They don't
mention infection or anything, and the wound doesn't look like it's gotten any
worse at all.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">The
music is telling me I should feel bad for the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Postosuchus</i>, but what exactly did she do this whole time? Eat a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Placerias</i>, roar a few times, and walk
around a lot. I don't feel this is sad music worthy material.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Kenneth
Branagh goes into gory detail about how the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Coelophysis</i>
"use their jaws and front teeth to reach under the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Postosuchus's</i> scales and eat her from the inside out", but
isn't this just how all predators eat? Open up the abdomen and dig in from
the inside?</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">A key point argued for why dinosaurs took over the Earth and left other reptiles
in the dust after the Triassic is they were better-adapted to drought because they
excrete very little water. There is a theory proposed that
archosaurs were better adapted to the dry Pangean climate after the
Permian-Triassic extinction event because they didn't loose very much water when they excreted, but here they're arguing
that dinosaurs were somehow better at conserving water than every other reptile
group. Someone care to explain how dinosaur poop is any different from other
archosaur poop? I highly doubt this is true.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-synthesis: weight style; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Coelophysis</i> cannibalism
reference. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Coelophysis</i> was long
thought to have been a cannibal due to the discovery of juvenile Coelophysis
bones in the gut regions of a few adults. However, many of these were
eventually shown to be from the sphenosuchian crocodylomorph <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Hesperosuchus</i> instead, leaving the
evidence for that idea invalid. Even so, given that cannibalism is a common
behavior in living organisms, and it's now known in later theropods, I don't
doubt that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Coelophysis</i> was any
different. Still, the fact that this trait is so commonly tied to the
animal gets annoying.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Plateosaurus</i> is from Europe,
not the Chinle. Yes there are basal sauropodomorph footprints known from older
layers of the Chinle, but then why even call them <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Plateosaurus</i>? Why not just call them "prosauropods" like
how the narrator was ambiguous with naming the cynodonts?</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Plateosaurus</i> could not walk on
all four limbs like shown, as the hand was unable to pronate in such a way to
allow quadrupedal movement. There are other "prosauropods" which
could walk with a quadrupedal gait, but <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Plateosaurus</i>
was not one of them. (More reason to just call them "prosauropods".)</span></span></li>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><u><b>-Time of Titans-</b></u></span></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /><img border="0" src="http://www.miketaylor.org.uk/dino/neck-posture/images/figures/wwd5.jpeg" height="222" width="400" /></span></span></div>
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</xml><![endif]--><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 107%;">This episode starts off with a female <i>Diplodocus</i> laying her eggs via an egg elevator. At the time
scientists postulated as to whether or not sauropods utilized an egg elevator,
or simply squatted. I’m pretty sure that the idea they simply squatted has won
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<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 107%;">Mention that <i>Diplodocus</i> was
the largest Jurassic dinosaur. Err, </span><span style="line-height: 107%;"><a href="http://svpow.com/2015/10/20/which-was-the-biggest-dinosaur/"><span style="line-height: 107%;">it’s
really complicated as to which sauropod was likely the “biggest”</span></a></span><span style="line-height: 107%;">, but <i>Diplodocus</i> definitely wasn’t one of
them. Heck, I don’t even think it’s in the top twenty anymore. Average size is supposedly around 12 tonnes.</span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 107%;">The
<i>Diplodocus</i> hold
their necks vertically out in-front of them and parallel to the ground. WWD was
made during a time when many people were arguing over the position of sauropod
necks, with a certain group arguing that they held them out parallel. More
recent research has shown that this is most certainly not correct, and that sauropods probably held their necks in an S-shaped fashion like all other known land tetrapods.</span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 107%;">All the sauropods also have nostrils on the tops of their heads. This was thought for the longest time since most saurpods have the nasal skull openings above the eyes, but it was more recently found that sauropods had fleshy nostrils which extended down past the bony openings to the end of the skull. No idea why they had this weird feature, but it might have had to do with a resonating system or for cooling the brain. They definitely didn't have noses on top of their heads though. </span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 107%;">We get a time frame of ~152 mya, which would place this episode smack-dab in the middle of the Morrison's depositional history. This suggests that the <i>Diplodocus </i>presented are <i>D. carnegii</i>, but the setting is Colorado, while <i>D. carnegii</i> was best known from Wyoming at the time the series was made. However, <i>D. longus</i>, which is known from Colorado, was recently found to be a nomen dubium in <a href="https://peerj.com/articles/857/">the big <i>Brontosaurus</i> paper</a>, and is now </span><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="line-height: 107%;">lumped into <i>D. carnegii</i>, </span> so I guess it works out now. <b>*EDIT: see bottom.</b></span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i><span style="line-height: 107%;"></span>Ornitholestes</i> with a horn. This interpretation was suggested by Paul in his ever-famous book <i>Predatory Dinosaurs of the World</i>, in which the nasal bones were broken and made it look like the animal had a nasal horn in life like <i>Ceratosaurus</i>. This was corrected in later studies.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"></span>Just wanted to point out that <i>Ornitholestes </i>is literally the only non-avian dinosaur in the whole series which has feathers, and even these are hard to interpret as feathers (they're just tiny mobile quills). I should also note that dinosaur feathers had been discovered three years prior to the show's airing, and had been suggested by scientists as early as the 1980s. In other words, the show has no excuses. Even for the time, we knew feathers should've been included in a variety of the dinosaurs.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"></span>The "sauropodlets" are pretty cute. Not sure if they're spot-on to what we know of hatching sauropods, but they look pretty good to me even by today's standards.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"></span>Mention that the necks are stiff. Again, I think this was heavily disputed at the time, and I think even today it's still a controversial topic, but from what I've heard most experts now agree sauropod necks were decently flexible and could move in a range of motions. Although, it might differ a bit from species-to-species.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"></span>Diplodocid tails were rather flexible, but I don't think they were <i><b>that </b></i>flexible. They look more like someone tied a ribbon to the tail than an actual functioning tail in some scenes. They also mention that the tails were used in visual communication, but don't mention the idea that it could make a sonicboom like some models suggest. The sonicboom idea was first proposed in 1997 though, and had a fair deal of skepticism at the time, so I guess they just wanted to go the safe route.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Everything about the <i>Anurognathus</i>. Seriously, everything. Wrong lifestyle (based on what we know from it's anatomy), wrong appearance (even by late 90s pterosaur standards), and wrong side of the world. <i>Anurognathus</i> is known from the Solnhofen limestone of Germany, not the Morrison rocks of Colorado.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>Anurognathus </i>hunting damselflies. Look above to the <i>Peteinosaurus </i>comment. </span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">There's a short segment of the episode talking about dung beetles and how they had their start feeding on dinosaur dung in the Jurassic. However, this might not be correct. Recent research into the origins of true dung beetles of the subfamily <span class="a" style="left: 1359px; top: 1486px; word-spacing: 2px;">scarabaeinae has shown that while they originated in the Mesozoic, <a href="http://www.academia.edu/905482/Historical_biogeography_of_scarabaeine_dung_beetles">much of their diversification was tied to the Cenozoic mammal radiation</a>, and that they were rare components of Mesozoic ecosystems. Instead, there's now evidence that an extinct group of </span>cockroaches called the blattulidae were the primary consumers of Mesozoic dinosaur dung.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"></span>The "sauropodlets" form creches with individuals of the same age, which fits well with all the recent research suggesting that non-avian dinosaurs primarily tended to live in age-related groupings.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"></span>The <i>Stegosaurus </i>individual<i> </i>pumps blood into it's plates in only a few seconds, which is highly unlikely given that stegosaur osteoderms were likely covered in keratin. Keratin, as we all know, is dead tissue which doesn't have active blood vessels in it. Thus, it pumping blood into it's plates at such a rapid rate is extremely unlikely.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"></span>Branagh talks for a bit about how sauropods probably altered the environment around them during their foraging, which was a rather new idea at the time, but has become an increasingly interesting topic with research on how elephants affect African landscapes, as well as what computer simulations tell us about <a href="http://www.cell.com/current-biology/abstract/S0960-9822%2812%2900329-6">how the existence of sauropods and other large dinosaurian herbivores literally altered the Mesozoic climate</a>.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"></span><span style="line-height: 107%;"> </span>This might be a nitpick, but Branagh mentions that the <i>Diplodocus </i>use gastroliths to grind up the food they consume. However,<span class="name"> <a href="http://m.rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/274/1610/635.short">Wings and</a></span><a href="http://m.rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/274/1610/635.short"> <span class="name">Sander</span> (2006) analyzed this idea in detail and found that it didn't hold up</a>, as sauropods only have a tiny percent of the required gastrolith numbers to preform proper grinding. Instead, they propose that gastroliths were instead swallowed primarily for detangling the mouthfuls of thick vegetation the dinosaurs consumed and preventing it from clogging the digestive system.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"></span>The juvenile <i>Diplodocus </i>are <b><i>so slow</i></b> when running away from the forest fire. <span style="line-height: 107%;"></span>Branagh mentions that they're this slow because "they always need three legs on the ground," but elephants have the same issue and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTHzlUQDGmc">they can run pretty fast when they need to</a>.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Now Branagh says that <i>Brachiosaurus </i>was the biggest Jurassic sauropod, and while that's probably closer to the truth than <i>Diplodocus</i>, there are a number of bigger sauropod candidates.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"></span>Adult <i>Diplodocus </i>are said to be "programmed" to respond to juvenile calls. I don't know, sounds a bit too elephant-like in behavior to me, and sauropods don't care for young to begin with. Then again, soft shell turtles were recently shown to do something similar. Guess it's up to interpretation.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 107%;">The next segment is all nothing but speculative courtship behaviors for sauropods, and while it is an interesting interpretation, I wish </span>Branagh wasn't speaking during it, because then it seems like he's presenting all these courtship behaviors as true facts. If they had left it silent and the behaviors were just left to be interpreted, then it would be much more factual<b>.</b></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">There's mention that female <i>Diplodocus </i>have fused hip vertebrae in order to support the weight of the male. This was actually a postulated idea in the late 90s which had some support behind it, as some sauropod specimens were found to have fused hip vertebrae and some didn't. However, eventually this trait was singled out as more likely representing ontegenetic features rather than male-female differences. I lost track of the paper proposing this though... (Anyone know of a link?)</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">These are some terminator <i>Allosaurus</i>. One of them falls off the back of a sauropod onto it's tail (Ouch!), and the other gets smacked in the side by a massive 100ft individual and shakes it off. I'd expect the latter at least to have an internal skeleton resembling Big Al or the Smithsonian Institution's specimen; completely riddled with injuries.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">The <i>Postosuchus </i>in the last episode is poked in the leg by a <i>Placerias</i> tusk, creating a tiny wound which leads to agonizing pain and suffering lasting for months and costing her her life. Meanwhile, the <i>Diplodocus </i>has her entire belly torn into by an <i>Allosaurus</i>' massive jaws and forelimb claws, and <span style="line-height: 107%;"></span>Branagh is like "Eh, don't worry, she'll recover."</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Mention that sauropods can live over a hundred years. In fact, the oldest sauropod to which we have directly estimated the lifespan of was roughly 50 years old, and the majority of <i>Diplodocus </i>individuals seem to have been between 12 and 25 years of age, so we lack any evidence of hundred-year lifespans in these animals. However, given that many sauropods did get much larger than the species with lifespans studied, and that most dinosaur specimens are immature, I wouldn't be surprised if larger sauropods had century-spanning lifespans. Just probably not <i>Diplodocus</i>.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"></span>Branagh goes on to say sauropods were "displaced by later dinosaurian herbivores." This really only seemed to happen in North America during the Late Cretaceous, 95 mya after the Cretaceous Thermal Maximum. North America prior to that time, as well as the rest of the world, was still sauropod-filled right up until the end of the Mesozoic. Not just that, but sauropods did manage to recolonize North America during the Maastrichtian in the form of <i>Alamosaurus</i>, and fossil discoveries from other late Cretaceous bonebeds might suggest they were there even earlier. So yeah, they weren't displaced and were going strong till the end. At the very most, they <i>just </i>had a rough period in <i>just </i>North America.</span></span></li>
</ul>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>*EDIT:</b> I was informed after writing this that the <i>Diplodocus longus</i> specimens have be reassigned to <i>D. hallorum</i>, NOT <i>D. carnegii</i>. This would actually make it more likely that the species featured in the documentary is meant to be <i>D. hallorum</i>, as they are actually found in Colorado and got to much larger sizes than <i>D. carnegii</i>.</span></span> </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">And that's about all I can say about the first two episodes. As you can tell by the length of the list, a lot of things have changed since the show has come out, and a lot of the information is definately now dated. Of course, that could just be due to my academic mindset; after all this is supposed to be a series for the public, but even then it's falling a bit short. Oh well, hope the next two episodes are better......<br /><br />Wait, the next episode has the blue whale-sized <i>Liopleurodon</i>... Crap.<br /><br />Cheers!</span></span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7121600678088328777.post-86859706090188893832015-09-06T10:45:00.001-07:002015-09-06T18:34:45.224-07:00Where's the Gargantuavis Love?<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/44/Gargantuavis_philoinos_pelvis.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/44/Gargantuavis_philoinos_pelvis.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The <i>Gargantuavis <span class="binomial">philoinos</span></i> type specimen.<br />
What, you were expecting more?</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<i>Gargantuavis </i>is an extremely interesting type of theropod dinosaur. The type specimen, pictured above, was found while building a winery in Aude, France, and upon description, immediately took much of the scientific community by surprise. Why? It appears to be the largest known Cretaceous-aged euornithine, a two-meter tall flightless "bird", living in an environment alongside its non-euornithine kin. And yes, it did live alongside non-avian dinosaurs. Nearby units of rock have produced a specimen of the sauropod dinosaur <i>Ampelosaurus atacis,</i> dromaeosaurid teeth, fragmentary ankylosaur bones, and the jumbled remains of <i>Rhabdodon priscus.</i> This was a giant bird living alongside equally giant non-avian members of its larger family.<br />
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Now, flightless birds in the Mesozoic isn't anything new. Hesperornithes have been known for ages, <i>Patagopteryx </i>(a close relative of <i>Gargantuavis</i>)<i> </i>seems to be a small flightless bird from Argentina, and if you wanna get technical about it one could argue that pennaraptorans are all technically "flightless birds" in the sense that they're feathered things which we think descended from volant or semi-volant ancestors. <i>Balaur </i>was also shown recently to likely be a type of flightless bird close to the base of the avian family tree, showing that even long-tailed birds had a few enigmatic flightless forms. What makes <i>Gargantuavis</i> so interesting, however, is the fact that it seems to be the earliest occurrence of a typical ratite-like body plan characteristic of many later flightless birds which appeared throughout the Cenozoic and continue up to this day in the form of actual ratites.<br />
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How much do we know of <i>Gargantuavis</i>? Just a handful of bones for the most part, but just enough for us to get a general idea of what this animal looked like. What's known of the hip and legs shows us that <i>Gargantuavis</i> suggests that it was an extremely heavily built animal incapable of flight, like ratites of today. Unlike many living ratites which are adapted for speed, <i>Gargantuavis </i>had a very broad pelvic bone, possibly to accommodate a large gut, and the size of the femur suggests it was not a specialized runner. Matthew Martyniuk (2012) suggests that this might mean <i>Gargantuavis </i>was
much more moa-like in ecology than ostrich-like, and may mean it was
also a giant, robustly-built herbivorous browsing animal. A neck vertebrae described in 2012 which may belong to <i>Gargantuavis</i> suggests that it had a long neck and small head, again, like is typical in the largely herbivorous ratites. There's even a possibility that some eggshells originally classified as sauropod eggs from the region might belong to this gigantic bird.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fc/Emu-wild.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="425" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fc/Emu-wild.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Dromaius novaehollandiae</i>, a living example of the ever-successful ratite-like body plan common throughout archosaurs.<br />
Presumably, <i>Gargantuavis </i>would've been slightly taller, but much thicker and more robustly built. </td></tr>
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An animal like <i>Gargantuavis</i> from a Mesozoic ecosystem brings up a lot of questions on how it co-existed alongside its non-avian kin. Presumably, <i>Gargantuavis</i> filled a niche similar to what ornithomimids did in other Mesozoic ecosystems, perhaps with a slightly heavier reliance on plants. As far as I know ornithomimids have yet to be discovered from the entirety of Europe in the late Cretaceous, so it would make sense that Europe, which was a scattering of large islands at the time, would develop its own independent lineage of ratite-like animals. <i>Gargantuavis</i> lived on a fairly large chunk of late Cretaceous European archipelago, but it's interesting to note that other birds from different islands, like <i>Balaur </i>from Hatzeg, also became flightless. Perhaps a number of independent Mesozoic bird lineages became flightless on each isolated island environment? Would definitely like to see if more huge birds end up coming out of these deposits in the future.<br />
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All of this amounts of my final tidbit about this awesome animal, which ties-in a bit with the title... Why is there no good artwork of it? A quick Google Image search of this animal comes up with a whopping two illustrations. Just two. The first result is of <a href="http://img03.deviantart.net/07c0/i/2011/184/b/e/gargantuavis_by_hyrotrioskjan-d3kv3rf.jpg">Hyrotrioskjan's take</a>, which is pretty great bar the fact it looks like a color-swapped ostrich with visible fingers. The next result is <a href="https://dinodetectives.blogia.com/upload/externo-b2b0721f18b3c3927f0bfc119c074696.jpg">from a blog called Dino Detectives</a>, and is worse, showing a full on naked arm similar to old dromaeosaurid reconstructions. That's all there is for Google's <i>Gargantuavis</i> results, and DeviantArt is barely any better.<br />
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Why has such an interesting animal been ignored by paleoartists? <i>Balaur </i>got a slew of paleoartwork done for it during both its first and second description, and <i>Patagopteryx</i>, an animal much smaller, simpler-looking, yet closely related to <i>Gargantuavis</i>, has a slew of artwork for it online. Don't think it has to do with its fragmentary nature either; Googling <i>Amphicoelias </i>or <i>Sauroniops </i>online should explain enough. The only other illustration outside of those that I've ever seen of <i>Gargantuavis</i> is in Martyniuk's 2012 book <i>A Field Guide to Mesozoic Birds and other Winged Dinosaur</i>s, in which he presents the best reconstruction I've yet seen of this animal.<i> </i>That leaves a total of three official reconstructions that I know about. (Let me know if you know of any more in the comments below.)<br />
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So, what does a dinosaur nerd like myself do when he's desperate to see more illustrations of what has to be one of the most interesting Mesozoic euornithines? Sharpen a pencil, pull out some sketch paper, and start drawing:<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBdX5QoA3hX7ydOreWUQkA38R9LR2quc0uyCEndg0FuZ9xRaPFBp0Kns5yHozwaYeR_bRoIigffuPV-ybm_txs90w1PtQ25H8hrJR8ESVJ8rgi2zjufB6BbScroTikBda_fCzvFBhFo-g/s1600/001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBdX5QoA3hX7ydOreWUQkA38R9LR2quc0uyCEndg0FuZ9xRaPFBp0Kns5yHozwaYeR_bRoIigffuPV-ybm_txs90w1PtQ25H8hrJR8ESVJ8rgi2zjufB6BbScroTikBda_fCzvFBhFo-g/s640/001.jpg" width="616" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A trio of <i>Gargantuavis </i>and a juvenile <i>Ampelosaurus</i> wander through a crowded forest.<br />
I blame my attempt at the complex environment on the Douglas Henderson illustration I've been looking at recently. </td></tr>
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Above is a pencil sketch I hope to turn into a proper illustration sometime in the future. I'm far from an experienced artists, but I've recently been taking art classes which has greatly increased my skills. Given that <i>Gargantuavis </i>was a very large, heavily-built, herbivorous bird living in an environment filled with other big dinosaurs, I imagined this species living out its life rather like many species of lowland moa which we know from New Zealand. I imagine that in order to better protect themselves against big theropods, they may have avoided open habitats and preferred to live in denser forests where there are more areas to hide. Their more robust bodies and lack of any obvious cursorial traits might suggest that they were more stand-and-fight animals than skittish ones; and anyone who knows anything about ratities knows that these living giant birds can give quite devastating kicks and bites when provoked. <i>Gargantuavis</i> may have been the same if ever attacked by a dromaeosaur or other small theropod. I also included a young <i>Ampelosaurus </i>in the background, presumably either wandering into the forest from more open areas, or was born there and is currently waiting to reach the right size that it can then join a herd of animals.<br />
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And that's it for me. A lot of interesting extinct animals are definitely under-represented in artwork, and I feel it's our responsibility to try to not leave any of these wonderful creatures in the dust. I encourage fellow paleoartists to definitely check out <i>Gargantuavis</i> and other under-represented extinct animals when considering what your next piece will be. These guys deserve love just <a href="http://markwitton-com.blogspot.com/2015/07/a-year-of-tyrannosaurus-rex-artworks.html">as more famous dinosaurs</a>. Cheers!<br />
<br />
<u><b>Citation</b></u><br />
<br />
<span class="reference-text">Buffetaut, E. & Le Loeuff, J. (1998). "A new giant ground Bird from the Upper Cretaceous of southern France." <i>Journal of the Geological Society</i>, <b>155</b>: 1-4.</span><br />
<span class="reference-text"><br /></span>
Martyniuk, M. P. (2012). <i>A Field Guide to Mesozoic Birds and other Winged Dinosaurs</i>. Vernon, N.J: Pan Aves. <br />
<span class="reference-text"><br /></span>
<span class="reference-text"><span class="reference-text"><span class="reference-text"><span class="citation book">Weishampel, D.B.; Dodson, P. & Osmolska, H. (2004). <i>The Dinosauria (2nd Edition)</i>. Berkeley: University of California Press. </span></span></span></span><span class="reference-text"><span class="reference-text"><span class="reference-text"><span class="citation book"><span class="reference-text"><span class="citation book">pp. 259–322, 588–593.</span></span></span></span></span> </span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7121600678088328777.post-59881143120573218582015-09-01T00:34:00.000-07:002015-09-01T01:39:23.331-07:00A Tale of Tails: The Evolution Driving Ankylosaur Tails & Armor<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSvRAJY1MbNJqlR3Eu702SNjqGHnv0NgYdptUx_gjsUWzA_KpzsT-xN8z3_V9gJIS3oSqcMeX6NhqTmqA4nNjH6aou-BBsZ_YFFTBKiuTzeMjMKnn6ZsELDqjLEowtZbztAaRQxhfyLR0/s1600/IMG_0237.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSvRAJY1MbNJqlR3Eu702SNjqGHnv0NgYdptUx_gjsUWzA_KpzsT-xN8z3_V9gJIS3oSqcMeX6NhqTmqA4nNjH6aou-BBsZ_YFFTBKiuTzeMjMKnn6ZsELDqjLEowtZbztAaRQxhfyLR0/s400/IMG_0237.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Peloroplites <span class="binomial">cedrimontanus</span></i><span class="binomial">, a nodosaurid from the </span>Cedar Mountain Formation.<br />
Image taken by yours truly at the USU Eastern Prehistoric Museum in Price, Utah.</td></tr>
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Ankylosaurs are some of my favorite dinosaurs, which is saying a lot considering I love all dinosaurs pretty much the same. Perhaps it's the mental image of such a powerful tank of an animal walking across the landscape seemingly impervious to attack, or just my own personal connection to them through studying what we know of their internal and external workings. Either way, I'm hooked on these beasts and eagerly anticipate reading whatever I can on their biology, anatomy, and behaviors. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UreBVvMtmJc">I covered most of the reasons I love these animals in a video a while back</a>, so I'll keep things rather focused in this post to some new stuff that's just come out.<br />
<br />
Rewind back to a couple of years ago to SVP 2013 in Los Angeles. I attended the event and sat in a seminar by Victoria Arbour, in which she spoke of a study she was working on attempting to track the evolution of the ankylosaurid "tail club." Her results seemed to have concluded that ankylosaurids may have gone through something of a step system throughout the evolution of their tail club, gaining certain traits over roughly 40 million years. Fast-forward back to the present day, and it seems her paper <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/joa.12363/abstract;jsessionid=75D765D0FA26A6951AB8178CB0B378E4.f02t04#.VeR5vgzpIMI.twitter">just came out in the most recent Journal of Anatomy</a>, coauthored by Philip Currie. Together they come up with some rather interesting new conclusions which has widespread impact on how we view the evolution of said tails in the group.<br />
<br />
Arbour and Currie come to the conclusion that ankylosaurid tail clubs evolved in a series of evolutionary stages. These went from the long and flexible whip-like tails of the earliest ankylosaurs and ankylosaurids, to a number of early Cretaceous ankylosaurids which Arbour and Currie deem "bat-tailed," they name them so for having caudal vertebrae with lengthened <span style="text-indent: -18pt;">prezygapophyses, which conjoin the vertebrae, while also lacking a tail club</span>. Finally in the late Cretaceous appear derived, so-called "club-tailed" ankylosaurids, which possess both lengthened <span style="text-indent: -18pt;">prezygapophyses and dramatically enlarged osteoderms forming the so-called tail club</span>. I prefer calling these ankylosaurids "mace-tailed" personally, as club is something of a highly generalized term that encompasses a lot of very different types of weapons, but that isn't really important. What is important is finding out what all this means about ankylosaur biology. Can learning how they evolved tell us how these tails were used?<br />
<br />
Non-ankylosaurid ankylosaurs might provide some help. Polacanthids (or simply just polacanthinae, depending upon whom you ask) had long flexible tails without any extreme specializations with one exception: Some polacanthid species, such as <i>Gastonia burgei</i>, had extremely large and ominous-looking osteoderms along the sides of an otherwise flexible tail, leading to suggestions that they might be used in defense. The documentary series <i>Jurassic Fight Club</i> (also called <i>Dinosaur Secrets</i> for those of you in the UK) went so far as to call this form of armor a "prehistoric chainsaw," and although this might seem over-the-top, the tails of these ankylosaurs do remind me of a <a href="http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/WhipSword">certain TV Tropes weapon</a>. (I have more to say about JFC in a future post.)<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://blog.press.princeton.edu/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/gastonia_burgei.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://blog.press.princeton.edu/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/gastonia_burgei.jpg" height="222" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Gastonia burgei</i>, also from the Cedar Mountain Formation, but part of the earlier Yellow Cat Member.<br />
Skeletal by Gregory S. Paul from his book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Princeton-Field-Guide-Dinosaurs-Guides/dp/069113720X"><i>The Princeton Field Guide to Dinosaurs</i></a>.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Nodosaurids, on the other hand, tended to have much simpler tails. Examples like <i>Sauropelta </i>and <i>Edmontonia </i>both possess either simple tiny osteoderms down the tail, or no osteoderms at all. The tails were, however, extremely long and whip-like, and could've still been used to give a predator a good whack to the face when necessary. It's interesting to note, however, that many nodosaurids do possess extensive armor plating on and around the head and front of the torso. Perhaps this suggests that nodosaurids were much more head-on than other ankylosaurids with their defensive approach. <i>Edmontonia</i> especially has forward-projecting shoulder spines which are bifurcated like deer antler, which has led to the suggestion that it is some form of weapon that could be used to charge predators or lock with rivals.<br />
<br />
But what about ankylosaurids proper? Why take the first step towards "bat-tailed" forms with tightly-locked tail vertebrae? Sexual selection might actually play something of a role here. A "bat-like" tail of fused vertebrae delivers more force than a whip does, so the development of a more robust and immobile tail might help in sparring matches where two ankylosaurids line up side-by-side to smack each others flanks. This kind of behavior would then eventually lead to the evolution of thicker and sturdier tails, and would also encourage the evolution of the tail club. The same idea has also been suggested for South American glyptodonts and ancient meiolaniid turtles, which are also coincidentally huge, well-armored herbivores with wide girths and extensive osteoderm coverings. Perhaps this kind of competitive behavior is something which develops uniquely with this type of body design.<br />
<br />
Or we could go with the more traditional view of a defensive evolutionary drive for the evolution of tail clubs. In this view, earlier ankylosaurids first developed the elongate <span style="text-indent: -18pt;">prezygapophyses in order to create a more active and dynamic form of defense against predators outside of the possibly more sit-and-wait strategies of other ankylosaurs. The "bat-tails" could be used as a whacking weapon to smack at the heads and legs of hungry theropods, or to sound more awesome, to <i>slice them up</i>. Note that although the club part had yet to evolve, some earlier ankylosaurids had smaller osteoderms on these so-called "bat-tails."<i> </i></span><span style="text-indent: -18pt;"><i>Gobisaurus</i> possessed a "bat-tail" with elongate </span><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">prezygapophyses and no enlarged tail club made of osteoderms, but it did seem to possess decent-sized smaller osteoderms along either side of the tail like <i>Gastonia</i>. This means it had a robust, bat-like tail, with <i>bladed sides</i>. Perhaps ankylosaurids like it should be dubbed "sword-tailed" or "<a href="https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tebutje">tebutje-tailed</a>." Of course, neither idea directly debunks the other, and multiple purposes for such a structure seems entirely likely.</span><br />
<span style="text-indent: -18pt;"><br /></span>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHvxorK3FHtcTmFScfGQNam88ACl3Ul96qfDWE72NvRXz9WVJ1frm-8xoHrmpOVf3C5o7We6gtxaV8H0q8EvQhDkQ_GucMLZLbmxI1-ReXghfs_ZBUSMAxsFGSVeyNNkNMYLxTIJRfq5g/s1600/Tebutje.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="262" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHvxorK3FHtcTmFScfGQNam88ACl3Ul96qfDWE72NvRXz9WVJ1frm-8xoHrmpOVf3C5o7We6gtxaV8H0q8EvQhDkQ_GucMLZLbmxI1-ReXghfs_ZBUSMAxsFGSVeyNNkNMYLxTIJRfq5g/s400/Tebutje.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A tebutje, a Polynesian form of war club with bladed edges.<br />
Kinda like basal ankylosaurid tails, although this one's made out of shark teeth.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="text-indent: -18pt;">In the latest Cretaceous, true club- (or mace)-tailed ankylosaurids appeared, and they immediately took off with hugely varied designs for the club. The earliest ankylosaurid with a big knob at its tail tip is <i>Pinacosaurus</i> (or possibly </span><span style="text-indent: -18pt;"><i>Talarurus)</i> which had a rather modest-sized tail club, and from humble beginings we get whole variety of designs ranging from the abnormally </span>narrow knob of <i>Dyoplosaurus</i>,<i> </i>to the abnormally massive and robust tail knob of <i>Ankylosaurus</i>, and even the extremely massive and pointy knob of <i>Anodontosaurus</i>. All-in-all, this wide variety of tail clubs suggests something else: Could they have each been used in different ways? I personally think so. Having a massive, heavy tail club at the end of your tail is extremely powerful to possess, but it can be cumbersome to "wield," and because of its weight, rather slow to swing. On the other hand, having a smaller tail club is much easier and faster to swing, but against some rather large predators might be lacking in sufficient strength to do any significant damage.<br />
<br />
Could the types of predators and their behaviors in a given ecosystem have influenced the development of these clubs? Well, some ankylosaurids with smaller knobbed tail tips, such as <i>Pinacosaurus</i>, seemed to live in an environment where smaller dromaeosaurids were the most common form of predator. Paul even suggested in his book <i>The Princeton Field Guide to Dinosaurs</i> that, with its smaller tail club and lighter build, <i>Pinacosaurus </i>could easily hit and threaten all kinds of smaller predators. On the other end of the spectrum, a number of ankylosaurids with truly massive tail clubs were contemporaries of massive tyrannosaurids, in which even larger and more powerful knobs (the ones required to break a rex's ankles) were required. This is just me delving into some speculative science though, and I don't know if anyone else has found any such correlation. Might be something interesting to look into.<br />
<br />
And I think I'll stop there. Ankylosaurs are definitely a very interesting bunch of animals, and I will be sure to discuss them again in the future. If you want more ankylosaur-goodness though, I recommend checking up on Victoria Arbour's blog <a href="http://pseudoplocephalus.blogspot.com/">Pseudoplocephalus</a>. She has a great post out now on her new study, so make sure to read that, too. Cheers!<br />
<br />
<u><b>Citation</b></u><br />
<br />
Arbour, V. M. and Currie, P. J. (2015), Ankylosaurid dinosaur tail clubs
evolved through stepwise acquisition of key features. Journal of
Anatomy. doi: 10.1111/joa.12363<br />
<br />
<span class="reference-text">Paul, G.S., 2010, <i>The Princeton Field Guide to Dinosaurs</i>, Princeton University Press p. 232</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7121600678088328777.post-11216448782296483792015-07-21T18:15:00.003-07:002015-07-21T21:51:09.107-07:00The Good-er Dinosaur<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/O-RgquKVTPE/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/O-RgquKVTPE?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div>
<br />
Well then, just when one over-hyped dinosaur film comes out, another one takes its place. Seriously, 2015 is looking like the year of the dinosaur. Not just that, but it also happens to be the second Pixar film this year, a first for the studio. Guess people like me who appreciate dinosaurs and good animation just got super lucky.<br />
<br />
While I personally was not a big fan of <i>Jurassic World</i> for a number of reasons (not just the inaccuracies, mind you), I've been keeping an eye on this film for quite a while. I still remember first hearing about it back in 2011, and listening in on-and-off about how production was doing and who and what was attached. The promotional artwork certainly looked promising, and the concept for the film was rather interesting. Tied to it all was also the fact that Greg Dykstra is involved, the sculptor for a number of Pixar and other animation projects ranging from <i>Finding Nemo</i> to <i>The Nightmare Before Christmas</i>. He also happens to be a big dinosaur-nerd, and has been out on digs in South Dakota while much of the production of <i>The Good Dinosaur</i> was getting started. Now that some trailers of the film have finally appeared, I think it's
definitely a better time than any to start talking about it. <br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i.ytimg.com/vi/JCVzj4f38_Q/maxresdefault.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://i.ytimg.com/vi/JCVzj4f38_Q/maxresdefault.jpg" height="265" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Some early concept art of the film. Arlo, the <i>Apatosaurus </i>lead character, seems to have gone from a full-sized sauropod to a juvenile during production. Spot doesn't seem to have changed much at all.</td></tr>
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The movie is based on the concept of a major "what if" question. "What if" the asteroid impact that occurred 66 million years ago, missed? And thus, the K-T extinction event didn't occur? Dinosaurs would still be wandering the Earth, and much of our fauna would probably be much more like the Mesozoic. The plot centers around Arlo, a juvenile <i>Apatosaurus </i>who's part of a small herd that lives in the "Clawed-Tooth Mountains". One day, a tragic event occurs which kills Arlo's father and causes the young sauropod to fall into a river, where he is hit by a rock and knocked unconscious. Upon awakening, he finds himself far away from home and needs to find a way to make it back. While searching, he stumbles upon a young human boy, who like him, also seems to be all alone, if not lost himself. Arlo names the human Spot, and the two set off on a journey back to the Mountains, encountering a wide range of landscapes and colorful characters along the way.<br />
<br />
Many people into speculative biology and evolution already
know many examples of the main premise of this in fiction already. The idea of dinosaurs never going extinct has been used by Dougal Dixon's <u>The New Dinosaurs</u>,
the <u>Speculative Dinosaur Project</u>, and as a host of other
independent projects online. This is a Pixar-ized version, however, and
while there appears to be a form of worldbuilding and perhaps a few
speculative creatures (the heck is that red snake-lizard thing?!), this is mostly fantasy. It also strangely seems to be an homage to many old-school dinosaur films, with the opening from the two trailers obviously being an homage to the Rite of Spring segment in Disney's <i>Fantasia</i>. The film also seems to take a twist on those old cartoons where there's a caveman and his pet <i>Apatosaurus/Brontosaurus</i>: the symbiosis is present, but reversed, with Arlo apparently treating Spot like a pet.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPn1vLMVqvAnd-XkOISrzm653r8io9xbGdF5JO6REndbHHY2bYOhTfJjGmd2gs0P5uVsoNHU6QKSJNhz1G0xNNiygWDOrFGNNta209P2Proz5o5ckVpuwoHe7z1ggAScM-6M08oCB3aFc/s1600/Untitled.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPn1vLMVqvAnd-XkOISrzm653r8io9xbGdF5JO6REndbHHY2bYOhTfJjGmd2gs0P5uVsoNHU6QKSJNhz1G0xNNiygWDOrFGNNta209P2Proz5o5ckVpuwoHe7z1ggAScM-6M08oCB3aFc/s640/Untitled.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Who doesn't like to flaunt their animation budget every now and then?</td></tr>
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<br />
I'll be holding most of my judgement for when the film actually enters theaters, but from the looks of the trailers, it is <b>gorgeous</b>. Holy crap, when the first teaser trailer came out I was debating with myself whether or not the animals were placed over a real backdrop, but nope, everything is CGI. Greg Dykstra and the rest of the animation department have my permission to pat themselves on the back and throw a party. This is some of, if not THE best animation I think I've ever seen from a Pixar film, and this is just from the first trailer. Everyone remember when the first Jurassic World trailer came out and how bad everyone thought the CGI was? If this is how the movie looks now, at only the first trailer, the final product is gonna be brilliant.<br />
<br />
I won't talk about inaccuracies, as a) the dinosaurs are meant to be anthropomorphized, cartoony, and human-like, and b) we've yet to see most of the characters from the film from what I've heard, but I'll go over a few things I noticed from the trailer that caught my interest...<br />
<ul>
<li><b>The Opening - </b>The opening scene where the asteroid whizzes overhead is obviously using pre-dinosaur renaissance dinosaurs in it.<b> </b>Although, as said before, this seems to be a reference to <i>Fantasia </i>if anything, so I'm willing to let it slide.</li>
<li><b>Arlo's Legs</b> - Other than the typical "sauropods didn't have elephant-feet" point, why does he have backwards "elbows"? Granted, they could be elongate "hands" and the upper arm could be embedded in the body, but it's still weird and makes his legs more horse-like than anything. And it doesn't help that he gallops...</li>
<li><b>Galloping</b> - Can sauropods even gallop? I don't think they can...</li>
<li><b>Old Cross-Eye</b> - The heck is that ceratopsian supposed to be? Looks like an asymmetrical <i>Styracosaurus </i>with extra spikes and <i>Triceratops </i>brow horns. Guess it could be a new species that evolved in the past 66 million years, but then why is Arlo's species still <i>Apatosaurus </i>after an even longer period of time?</li>
<li><b>The Riders</b> - If you look close at the cross-eyed ceratopsian's head, you'll see there's a large number of small animals sitting on it, ranging from monkey-like things, to armadillo-like things, to some owls, an anole, and quite a few birds. Two of these birds are rather odd, and look almost like <i>Rahonavis </i>or some small dromaeosaurid. It's hard to tell if they actually are, but it might suggest we're getting properly feathered maniraptorans in this film.</li>
<li><b>Red Snake-Lizard</b> - I said it before and I'll say it again. The heck is that thing?</li>
<li><b>Bat-Crap Crazy Pterosaurs</b> - Why do pterosaurs always have to be eagle-swooping bringers of death? Not even in Pixar can they be cute adorable things that sing. I want a cute trio of fluffy <i>Darwinopterus </i>to sing to our heroes, not <i>toothed</i> <i>Pteranodon </i><b>(faceplam)</b><i> </i>to swoop down and pick up humans with opposable feet that they don't have!</li>
</ul>
Anyways, despite some of the issues, I'm still hyped and can't wait. I adored <i>Inside Out</i>, and I'm looking to see what Pixar brings to the table next. This will probably not be the last time I bring up this movie, so stay tuned for more. Cheers!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7121600678088328777.post-80957253596297886992015-07-12T15:07:00.002-07:002015-07-12T15:07:25.553-07:00Harley's Head and His Leaf-Munching Neighbors<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu31s0jXU7st8V5kfTWU71iJSy4DoDY-3Z2t-lFHGuDauk5kH8oW2KTa1r_RNVVtRzI1q8ll5buJpQ33cnCZGgEmXTjfflngCldawpEindSSB_TCeENPaju_hsshfk7C47ndfLC__AI2A/s1600/IMG_0155.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu31s0jXU7st8V5kfTWU71iJSy4DoDY-3Z2t-lFHGuDauk5kH8oW2KTa1r_RNVVtRzI1q8ll5buJpQ33cnCZGgEmXTjfflngCldawpEindSSB_TCeENPaju_hsshfk7C47ndfLC__AI2A/s640/IMG_0155.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image of bad Iphone camera quality, but with dinosaurs.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Here's that head of Harley (LACM 23844) I promised. The biggest tyrannosaur in LANHM's collection, Harley's a monster with a five foot head and some terrifying teeth, the longest of which is nearly twelve inches. When he was first put up on display, Harley was the largest <i>T. rex</i> (and indeed, theropod skull period) on display anywhere in the world, and it still quite a sight to behold.<br />
<br />
During my time working at the Los Angeles Natural History Museum, I've gotten a ton of questions relating to this skull and our other <i>Tyrannosaurus </i>from people glancing at it through it's display case. One of the most-asked questions I've got actually has to do with what <i>isn't</i> present in this mount. If you notice at the bottom of the picture, Harley's jaws are separate and not touching. This has lead to a lot of questions and suggestions from visitors that <i>Tyrannosaurus </i>was able to separate it's jaws out like a snake in order to swallow huge prey items.<br />
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Alas, that's not the case. Harley's jaw tip was simply not recovered during the expeditions to free him in the 1960s. Other <i>Tyrannosaurus </i>with complete lower jaws show such fusion between the two lower mandibles (<a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/33/Stan_the_Trex_at_Manchester_Museum.jpg">take this image of Stan, for example</a>). I don't see why T. rex would need to swallow massive prey items anyways. When you've got a bone-crushing bite and the power to rip chunks of bite-sized meat off prey, flexible snake-like jaws become a hindrance that I'd expect would actually weaken the overall crushing ability.<br />
<br />
Oh yeah, and next to Harley is his neighbor, LACM 154919, a <i>Lambeosaurus lambei</i>. At just a little bit over two feet lo<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">ng, this skull has hardly any of the massive overpowering presence that Harley's skull does, and doesn't get nearly as many family pictures in front of it. <span style="font-family: inherit;">It's a <span style="font-family: inherit;">shame really, e<span style="font-family: inherit;">specially </span>given the size of the actual<span style="font-family: inherit;"> animal it probably came from. </span></span></span>We do have some other </span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">ornithischian dinosaurs with a more overpowering presence, however...</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /><span id="goog_443846820"></span><span id="goog_443846821"></span></span></span>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhogO7t-YrT24dRIaMvxJPTl2ncrGcLbTQ_9oGqZ_C5smN7Dk-oD2rtXDgEHCpO9NNJSI94qPozFmsJLwqXk-Tv1Z6B9OukipZR984gW7sttVsgyQdXo4qC1cq_xOmDf_Zt3zOXmEa4tPA/s1600/IMG_0073.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhogO7t-YrT24dRIaMvxJPTl2ncrGcLbTQ_9oGqZ_C5smN7Dk-oD2rtXDgEHCpO9NNJSI94qPozFmsJLwqXk-Tv1Z6B9OukipZR984gW7sttVsgyQdXo4qC1cq_xOmDf_Zt3zOXmEa4tPA/s640/IMG_0073.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">More bad Iphone camera quality, with a dinosaur.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">And this<span style="font-family: inherit;"> is our<span style="font-family: inherit;"> big </span><i>Triceratops prorsus</i> (LACM 59049) sk<span style="font-family: inherit;">ull<span style="font-family: inherit;">, again. Like Harley, we <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">decapitated<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span> this dinosaur for safety reasons, and <span style="font-family: inherit;">it's head is safe <span style="font-family: inherit;">in a glass case alongside<span style="font-family: inherit;"> two other <span style="font-family: inherit;">c</span>eratopsid sk<span style="font-family: inherit;">ulls (which will be shown in the future<span style="font-family: inherit;">). The head on the mount is a <span style="font-family: inherit;">lightweight cast bui<span style="font-family: inherit;">lt to be<span style="font-family: inherit;"> lightweight and <span style="font-family: inherit;">replaceable, w<span style="font-family: inherit;">hich is <span style="font-family: inherit;">good considering this induvidual had a skull over <span style="font-family: inherit;">eight</span> feet long (if not longer)</span></span></span>. LACM 59049<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span>was also one of the mo<span style="font-family: inherit;">re complete specimens of its kind during it's initial discovery.<span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span>60% of this Trike's bones were disco<span style="font-family: inherit;">vered over the course of a couple of field seasons, and most of those bones are <span style="font-family: inherit;">on display throughout the institution<span style="font-family: inherit;">;</span> abet scattered.<br /><br />You can tell th<span style="font-family: inherit;">at this specimen</span> <span style="font-family: inherit;">i</span>s a <i>T<span style="font-family: inherit;">.</span> prorsus</i>, and not <span style="font-family: inherit;">a <i>T</i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>. horridus</i>, b<span style="font-family: inherit;">y the enlarged nasal horn. <i>T. h</i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>orridus</i> has a little stub of a nasal horn on its head<span style="font-family: inherit;">, but <span style="font-family: inherit;">longer (<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">proportionality</span> speaking) brow ho<span style="font-family: inherit;">rns than <i>T. prorsus</i>. Work done by </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Scannella and Fowler (</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">2009) suggests that these two species<span style="font-family: inherit;"> were <span style="font-family: inherit;">separated </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">stratigraphically in the Hell Creek and other similar formations, with <i>horridus</i> specimens appearing in older rocks and </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>prorsus </i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">occurring</span> closer to the K-T boundary. <span style="font-family: inherit;">Some specimens of <i>Triceratops</i> f<span style="font-family: inherit;">ound <span style="font-family: inherit;">in the middle of the Hell Creek even show evidence of being intermediate between <i>horridus</i> and <i>prorsus</i>, su<span style="font-family: inherit;">ggesting that <span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>horridus </i>directly evolved into <i>pror</i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>sus</i>, which would be incredibl<span style="font-family: inherit;">y cool if shown true.<br /><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;">Expect more <span style="font-family: inherit;">c</span>eratopsians soon...</span><br />__________________________________________________________________________________</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><i></i></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<br /><b>- <span class="reference-text">Scannella, J.B. and Fowler, D.W. (2009). "Anagenesis in <i>Triceratops</i>: evidence from a newly resolved stratigraphic framework for the Hell Creek Formation." Pp. 148–149 in <i>9th North American Paleontological Convention Abstracts</i>. Cincinnati Museum Center Scientific Contributions 3.</span></b><br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7121600678088328777.post-27853244957729931942015-07-10T15:32:00.000-07:002015-07-10T16:59:44.715-07:00A New Beginning...Hello and welcome dear readers to my humble abode. This is my starting post to a blog that will hopefully turn out to be a good permanent residence for my writings and rambles. What are the topics of these writings gonna be? Mostly extinct animals and paleontology in general, I hope, but I also plan to use this blog to write about quite a bit more than that. I have many interests covering a wide range of topics, and because of that, I hope to use this blog to talk a whole range of things that I, and I hope readers, finds interesting.<br />
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First thing's first though: disclaimers. Although I will be writing about dinosaur-themed topics as well as various other interests of mine, I want to make clear that I'm simply an enthusiast, and not a actual paleontologist with any form of degree. I have a volunteer job at the Los Angeles Natural History Museum where I work as an educational docent, have taken classes on paleontology and geology, and <a href="http://ancientplanet.blogspot.com/">have published writings in online magazines</a>, but everything posted here doesn't come from an "expert". Just someone who loves to learn, and loves sharing what he has learned with others. If you want to read from actual experts, there's plenty of other blogs out there that can fulfill your wishes, such as <a href="http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/tetrapod-zoology/">TetZoo</a>, <a href="http://svpow.com/">SV:POW</a>, and <a href="http://markwitton-com.blogspot.com/">Mark Witton's Blogspot</a>.<br />
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I hope to use this blog to introduce people to new ways of looking at science. Whether it be hard factual discoveries that shape the way we perceive the past, to speculative sciences that allow people to see things they find familiar in a new light. This is a place to educate those who know little, while also enriching the experiences of those that know much.<br />
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As such, this is also a blog that will openly take requests if people wish to learn more. I will be sure to take the time to read every post made here, and if anyone wishes to pass me a question, either here, on Facebook, or some other form of media, I'll try my best to answer it.<br />
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And with that, I thank you all for joining me at my new location. I'll leave you all with a rather popular picture of the LA Natural History Museum's famous mount of a <i>Triceratops prorsus</i> (<b>LACM 59049</b>) and <i>Tyrannosaurus rex</i> (<b>LACM 23844</b>).<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrBosrZZQ1hv5HCe7d5Dn-llGanDnsw3bWlPvyhRRcPTErf1em264PJjZthMTnIv0lqBS5mKQi1a7Lnn9yqV7qkY3yuwKyRA6403dcZ4yxTxtyMMh_YFV4Nb7Ke3mC7COvfOwQ0aRcXm8/s1600/IMG_0049.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrBosrZZQ1hv5HCe7d5Dn-llGanDnsw3bWlPvyhRRcPTErf1em264PJjZthMTnIv0lqBS5mKQi1a7Lnn9yqV7qkY3yuwKyRA6403dcZ4yxTxtyMMh_YFV4Nb7Ke3mC7COvfOwQ0aRcXm8/s640/IMG_0049.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Picture by yours truly, with shameful iPhone quality to boot.</td></tr>
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We at the museum call this <i>T. rex</i> Harley, after the late Harley Garbani who discovered most of our institution's <i>Tyrannosaurus</i>. When he was unearthed in the late 1960s, his bones were disarticulated and scattered, and most of the body was missing; but the head was largely complete. It was so complete, in fact, that Harley (the dinosaur) held the title of the most complete <i>T. rex</i> skull of in the world for a long time. That is, until more complete <i>Tyrannosaurus</i> like Sue <span style="font-family: inherit;">(<b>FMNH PR 2081</b>) beat him out in the late 1990s. That head, however, isn't displayed on this mount. The head shown is a lightweight cast, built to be replaceable in case it ever falls due to California's infamous earthquakes or other disasters. His real, concrete-filled skull is in a well-protected display case in our Dinosaur Hall.<br /><br />Pictures of that will be coming soon! Cheers! :)</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0