Episode 435: Spinosaur brains, Tyrannosaurus species replace, and paleo developments

Episode 435: Spinosaur brains, Tyrannosaurus species replace, and paleo developments. Gregory S. Paul joins us to debate his work together with the current controversial Tyrannosaurus rex, regina, and imperator paper. Plus a evaluation of the historical past of dinosaur paleontology and what developments are coming for CT scanners

Information:

• Phil Currie wrote an incredible evaluation article concerning the historical past of paleontology, what we now find out about dinosaurs in comparison with when people first found dinosaurs, and the place the sphere of paleontology is headed supply
• A brand new research of spinosaur brains and skulls helps present how they tailored to eat fish supply
• Trinity the Tyrannosaurus might be auctioned off in Switzerland subsequent month supply

Interview:

Gregory S. Paul, researcher, creator, and illustrator. He’s identified for his analysis on theropods, writing the books Predatory Dinosaur of the World and The Princeton Discipline Information to Dinosaurs, consulting with Jurassic Park and When Dinosaurs Roamed America, and creating many illustrations. He was a part of the Dinosaur Renaissance and his work helped present dinosaurs as extra lively and bird-like.

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The dinosaur of the day: Tianyulong

• Heterodontosaurid ornithischian that lived within the Late Jurassic in what’s now Western Liaoning Province, China
• Seemed considerably just like Heterodontosaurus, with lengthy legs and an extended tail, and a brief cranium, however had shorter arms and a shorter neck
• In all probability walked on two legs
• Like different heterodontosaurids, had a pair of enormous, canine-like tusks
• Had uncommon proportions in comparison with its heterodontosaurid family members, with a big head, lengthy legs and tail, however quick arms and a brief neck
• Holotype was mature and estimated to be about 27.5 in (70 cm) lengthy, based mostly on comparisons to its relative Heterodontosaurus tucki
• Cranium was related in form to Heterodontosaurus
• Cranium is about 2.3 in (6 cm) lengthy
• Tail is about 17 in (44 cm) lengthy
• Arms are lower than 30% the size of the legs
• Tail is just like dromaeosaur theropods, with a extra cellular base and center and finish being extra inflexible
• Might have helped with steadiness
• Had an extended second finger
• Might have been good at greedy
• Heterodontosaurids have been herbivores, and perhaps omnivores
• Heterodontosaurids have payments for cropping, properly developed cheeks, good for consuming crops
• Sort and solely species is Tianyulong confuciusi
• Fossils present in Jianchang County and at the moment are on the Shandong Tianyu Museum of Nature
• Skeleton lay flat on a slab of rock
• Genus title means Tianyu dragon
• Genus title refers back to the Tianyu Museum of Nature
• Species title is in honor of Confucius
• Named in 2009 by Zheng Xiao-Ting and others
• First heterodontosaurid present in what’s now Asia
• Initially considered from the Early Cretaceous, then later discovered to be from the Tiaojishan Formation (about 158.5 million years in the past)
• Holotype is an incomplete skeleton together with a part of the cranium and jaw, vertebrae, a part of the arm, a part of the pelvis, a part of the legs and toes, and lengthy filamentous integumentary constructions (doable proto-feathers)
• In 2012, Paul Sereno did a research of heterodontosaurids and described a second specimen of Tianyulong
• Second specimen features a almost full cranium, vertebrae, a part of the tail, shoulders, many of the arms, and elements of the legs and toes
• Holotype and second specimen are about the identical dimension
• There are not less than 4 different undescribed specimens
• Sereno mentioned all of the specimens have to be studied to have a dependable cranium reconstruction
• Most attention-grabbing a part of the discover have been the feather-like constructions
• Discovered three patches of lengthy, filamentous constructions on its again, tail, and neck
• Constructions look just like protofeathers
• Not fairly a feather. Feathers are versatile and have vanes, and the constructions on Tianyulong are stiff and don’t have vanes (flat half on the aspect of a shaft of a feather)
• They’re single constructions with no branches
• Uncommon to search out an ornithischian with feathers (normally have discovered saurischians, primarily theropods, with proof of feathers)
• Ornithischians embrace ankylosaurs, stegosaurs, ceratopsians, hadrosaurs, and heterodontosaurids
• Psittacosaurus is one other ornithischian, a ceratopsian, with bristles on its tail
• Patches discovered on Tianyulong are just like the bristles on Psittacosaurus
• Additionally just like constructions discovered on some theropods, like Sinosauropteryx and Beipiaosaurus
• Extra just like the bristles on the tail of Psittacosaurus than to protofeathers in theropods, although the constructions on the tail of Psittacosaurus are extra inflexible and extra broadly separated from one another
• Those on the tail of Tianyulong are the longest, at about 60 mm lengthy, which is seven instances the peak of the tail vertebra
• Constructions have been probably for show (undoubtedly not for flight)
• Discovering them opened up new questions, like whether or not ornithischians independently advanced these constructions or if these constructions have been a part of the frequent ancestor of ornithischians and saurischians (that means, did all dinosaurs evolve from an animal with these constructions)
• Heterodontosaurids are basal ornithischians, which provides to the talk

Enjoyable Truth:

The expertise to look inside dinosaur skulls with out breaking them open is over 50 years outdated, however it wasn’t recurrently used till extra just lately.

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