Episode 349 is all about Pegomastax, a small bristly heterodontosaurid from the Early Jurassic of South Africa.

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In this episode, we discuss:

News:

• A redescription of the sauropod Patagosaurus confirmed its position as a non-neosauropod eusauropod source
• Jurassic Forest in Gibbons, Alberta, Canada has six new dinosaur sculptures source
• Wally, the fiberglass Stegosaurus in Pittsfield, Massachusetts just returned to the Berkshire Museum after getting restored source
• The dinosaur footprint found by a 4-year-old in the Vale of Glamorgan in Wales is now on display at the National Museum Cardiff source
• A 10-year-old in South Dakota helped find what may be the most complete known Triceratops specimen source
• A Gryposaurus ilium was found in Montana as part of a Chapman University and Oklahoma State University dig led by Jack Horner source
• Screenrant has a list of the confirmed and rumored dinosaurs appearing in Jurassic World: Dominion source
• Sinavore, a new dinosaur comic, just launched on Kickstarter source

The dinosaur of the day: Pegomastax

• Heterodontosaurid that lived in the Early Jurassic in what is now South Africa (Elliot Formation)
• Two-legged, small fuzzy (bristle-y) dinosaur with a beak and fangs
• Estimated to be about 24 in (60 cm) long
• Skull length around 2.7 to 3 in (70 to 80 mm) long
• Lots of articles said it weighed no more than a house cat
• Had a robust lower jaw and a short parrot-shaped beak
• Also had a large, canine-like teeth (fangs) in the front of the jaws, upper and lower (may have been for defense or intraspecies combat or display or to help dig up plants)
• Has been called a “Dracula dinosaur” because of its fangs
• Probably herbivorous, though some scientists think heterodontosaurids ate insects and small lizards
• Fossils found in an expedition in 1966 and 1967
• Described in 2012 by Paul Sereno, who had noticed it was unique in 1983
• Sereno said he was embarrassed how long it took him to study the fossil
• Sereno named Pegomastax in a paper about heterodontosaurids
• Said that extensive tooth wear suggests heterodontosaurids were either mostly or fully herbivorous
• Also the way the teeth meet when biting shows it sheared, which was a sophisticated way at the time for processing plant material
• Sereno said that tooth wear in heterodontosaur cheek teeth are usually very well developed
• Said Pegomastax had a nearly continuous wear surface in the larger cheek teeth
• Fangs could shear plants
• Parrot-like skull may have helped pluck fruit
• Probably had 11 dentary teeth
• Replaced teeth regularly
• Type species is Pegomastax africana
• Genus name means “strong jaw” in Greek
• Originally named Pegomastax africanus, but the word africanus is masculine and the word mastax is feminine, so to be grammatically correct, it was changed to Pegomastax africana
• Species name means “pertaining to Africa”
• Holotype is a partial skull, both dentaries and a predentary (toothless beak-like bone)
• Found in a small block of sandstone matrix
• Sereno first saw the fossils at Harvard, but eventually they were returned to the South African Museum in Cape Town
• Body probably covered in bristles, so maybe looked porcupine-ish
• Bristles found all over the body of Tianyulong, a heterodontosaur around the same size that was found in China (preserved by volcanic ash)
• Appears in Ark: Survival Evolved

Fun Fact: We can’t tell for sure which dinosaurs would be the best for riding, but there are a few clues from birds and other animals.

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