Episode 410: A new tyrannosauroid that was smaller than Moros, but bigger than Suskityrannus; plus a new therizinosaur from Hokkaido; and a study of the soft pads on sauropod feet

News:

• A new unnamed tyrannosauroid was discovered in Idaho which was smaller than Moros, but bigger than Suskityrannus source
• There’s a new therizinosaur named Paralitherizinosaurus that was found in Hokkaido, Japan source
• A new specimen of Yulong mini was found, which helps show how the dinosaur grew as it aged source
• Sauropods may have developed soft tissue pads on their feet by the Late Triassic to Early Jurassic, and this may have been a key adaptation for them to evolve into giants source
• The Peabody Museum of Natural History may have fossils of a new tyrannosaur species from the east coast of the U.S. source
• The Philip J. Currie Museum took visitors on a rafting tour to look for fossils this summer source
• We also put together a list of 9 places to go dig for fossils source

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The dinosaur of the day: Patagosaurus

• Eusauropod dinosaur that lived in the Early–Middle Jurassic in what is now Patagonia, Argentina (Cañadón Asfalto Formation)
• Looked like other sauropods, with a long neck, small head, long tail, and walked on four legs
• Estimated to be about 54 ft (16.5 m) long and weighed about 7.88 t (other estimates that it was about 46 ft or 14 m long)
• Fossils found in the 1970s
• Holotype included a nearly complete skeleton (no skull)
• Multiple specimens found, so we know almost the whole skeleton, including the skull
• Skull not well known, mostly the jaws are known
• Lot of specimens found (originally 12, but now may only be 11, based on a redescription of Patagosaurus which found one specimen may be a different taxa/dinosaur)
• At least one juvenile found
• Femke M. Holwerda and others redescribed Patagosaurus in 2021
• Herbivorous
• Had a mix of basal and derived sauropod traits (old and new). One derived trait is the air-filled cavities in bones (pneumatization), which made the bones lighter
• Had gracile (slender) forelimbs compared to later sauropods like Camarasaurus
• Had tall neural spines
• Had five sacral vertebrae (in between the hips)
• Had “saddle” shaped neural spines on the front tail vertebrae (anterior caudal vertebrae)
• Had a relatively short, high lower jaw (dentary)
• Had a short, high, broad snout
• Teeth similar to Camarasaurus (spoon-shaped)
• Had lots of replacement teeth
• Probably replaced teeth every 58 days
• Juveniles looked a little different from adults. For example, adult femora (leg bone) had different proportions from juveniles
• Also possible that juveniles had fewer teeth than adults
• Long neck may have helped with avoiding over-heating
• Described by Jose Bonaparte in 1979
• Type species is Patagosaurus fariasi
• Genus name means “Patagonia lizard”
• Genus name refers to being a reptile found in Patagonia
• Species name in honor of Ricardo Farias, who owned the farmland where the fossils were found
• Lived in a warm, humid climate
• Lots of conifers and ferns
• Other dinosaurs that lived around the same time and place include Piatnitzkysaurus (megalosauroid), Condorraptor (megalosauroid), Volkheimeria (eusauropod)
• Other animals that lived around the same time and place included amphibians, turtles, mammals

Fun Fact:

73% of the rock exposed on Earth is sedimentary rock (the best for finding fossils) but unfortunately it doesn’t all preserve fossils.

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