Episode 439: A new huge titanosaur, Amargasaurus sails, and Hans Sues. A new giant colossosaurian titanosaur, Chucarosaurus, was described from Late Cretaceous Patagonia. Plus Hans Sues joins to discuss his huge list of accomplishments and recent work at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History

News:

• There’s a new giant colossosaurian titanosaur Chucarosaurus diripienda source
• A new paper looks at whether Amargasaurus had spines, sails, or a giant hump on its neck source

Interview:

Hans Sues, the Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. He has named many dinosaurs, including Saurornitholestes, Zephyrosaurus, and Daemonosaurus and collected fossils in the U.S., Canada, China, Germany, and Morocco. He has authored or co-authored more than 150 scientific articles. Plus he has a dinosaur named after him: the pachycephalosaur Hanssuesia. You can see him on The Dr. Is In and a Twitter Q&A.

Sponsors:

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The dinosaur of the day: Tazoudasaurus

• Vulcanodontid basal sauropod that lived in the Early Jurassic in what is now Morocco (found in the High Atlas Mountains)
• Looked like other sauropods, walked on four legs, had a long tail, relatively small head, though neck wasn’t too long
• Estimated to be about 31 to 33 ft (9.5 to 10 m) long
• Estimated to weigh around 8 metric tonnes
• Other sauropods that lived around the same time were bigger
• One of the juveniles found estimated to weigh about 308 lb (140 kg)
• Skull was about 12.5 in (32 cm) long
• Back of the skull was wide
• Had a slender lower jaw
• Had a flexible neck with long vertebrae
• Fossils were first found in the early 2000s
• Found a jawbone with 17 teeth
• Wear patterns on the teeth show it probably ground food between its teeth
• Lots of ferns, cycads, and conifers grew in its habitat
• Described by Ronan Allain et al. in 2004
• Type species is Tazoudasaurus naimi
• Genus name refers to one of the localities where the fossils were found, Tazouda
• Species name means “slender” and refers to the small size of the holotype
• Holotype was an adult, and included part of the jaw with teeth
• Skeleton was partially articulated (put together)
• Also found another specimen that was a juvenile
• Fossils found alongside theropods, including the abelisauroid Berberosaurus
• Closely related to Vulcanodon
• Pelvis and leg was similar to Vulcanodon
• Had a relatively slender pubis
• Had both sauropod and sauropodomorph features
• Had a prosauropod-like jaw with spatulate teeth
• Derived, or later features, include features in its leg and toes
• Walked on its toes
• Atlasaurus, which was found in the area, lived about 20 million years later in the Middle Jurassic, and comparing Tazoudasaurus and Atlasaurus shows how sauropods changed during that time (different teeth, differences in the leg bones and feet, and size—Atlasaurus was much bigger)
• Talked about Atlasaurus in episode 433
• More than 600 bones found, and many of the were articulated
• Enough fossils were found in a bone bed that “the skeleton of Tazoudasaurus is virtually complete except for the skull,” according to Ronan Allain and others in 2008
• Bone bed had at least six individuals, with at least three and maybe four of them being adults (fourth one based on the large arm bone/humerus) and two juveniles
• In 2010 Karen Peyer and Ronan Allain reconstructed Tazoudasaurus, and said there are least 10 juvenile to adult individuals (after more fossils from the bonebed were prepared)
• Allain and others also said in 2008 “The vast majority of juvenile and adult remains are neither broken nor weathered and have been jumbled up together,” which suggests the bones were close to where the animals died
• Thought to have died quickly from mudflow, based on how the fossils are preserved
• May mean Tazoudasaurus lived in a herd, and was social
• Featured in the documentary Tracking Africa’s Dinosaurs

Fun Fact:

Amargasaurus and the entire group of dicraeosaurids have been extinct about twice as long ago as the last surviving non-avian dinosaurs.

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