Episode 423: Ankylosaur and sauropod tail weapons plus a paleo controversy. Maximum speed of sauropod tails, ankylosaurs clubbing each other, a paper on the Tanis site may include fake data, a new ornithopod, and how AI is being used in paleontology

News:

• One of the papers about the Tanis site has been accused of having fake data source
• There’s a new dwarf rhabdodontid dinosaur, Transylvanosaurus platycephalus source
• Ankylosaurs probably evolved their tails for fighting each other, not for defending against predators source
• Diplodocid tails could not break the speed of sound, according to a new model source
• Artificial Intelligence helped solve the mystery of dinosaur tracks in Queensland, Australia source

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This episode is brought to you by the Sternberg Museum of Natural History. They have amazing summer camps every year including field paleontology, paleoart, and virtual options. Find out more and sign up at https://bit.ly/camps23

The dinosaur of the day: Abrosaurus

• Macronarian sauropod that lived in the Middle Jurassic in what is now Sichuan Province, China (Lower Shaximiao Formation)
• Probably looked like other sauropods, though maybe a bit more stout, according to paleoart
• Had a long neck, long tail, walked on four legs
• Only the skull has been described
• Had a more boxy head, with a tall bony arch on top (in front of the eyes) where the nostrils were
• Estimated to be about 30 ft (9.1 m) long
• Type species is Abrosaurus dongpoi
• Genus name means “delicate lizard”
• Genus name refers to the skull, that had large openings separated by thin bones
• Species name is in honor of the poet Su Shi, a.k.a. Su Dongpo, who was born in Sichuan and lived from 1037-1101
• Fossils discovered in 1984 and first described in 1986
• First described by Ouyang Hui as Abrosaurus gigantorhinus
• But, his thesis didn’t meet ICZN standards so that name is a nomen nudum
• In 1989 Ouyang formally described Abrosaurus as Abrosaurus dongpoensis
• However, “ensis” is only used to refer to localities so the “i” suffix was used instead, to refer to a male individual (hence, Abrosaurus dongpoi)
• Holotype is a nearly complete, well preserved skull
• A fragmentary skull and skeleton have also been found, but haven’t been described
• Had a lightly built skull (“delicate” and “graceful”)
• Hui described it as a “moderate sized sauropod with a delicately constructed skull”
• Also had “extremely large” fenestrae in the skull
• Had a relatively low, elongated skull
• Had openings in the skull similar to Camarasaurus, but the skull of Camarasaurus is more robust
• Had narrow, elongated nasals, that were about one-third the length of the skull
• Had “abundant” teeth
• Had spoon-shaped teeth
• Originally described as a camarasaurid, though that may not be the case
• Later research found it to be a basal member of Macronaria, like Camarasaurus, but needs more research (such as the description of the second specimen) to be more certain
• Housed as the Zigong Dinosaur Museum
• Other dinosaurs that lived around the same time and place included stegosaurs such as Bashanosaurus, Huayangosaurus, sauropods such as Shunosaurus, Omeisaurus, and theropods such as Leshansaurus, Gasosaurus, Yangchuanosaurus
• Other animals that lived around the same time and place included Crocodyliformes, pterosaurs, and turtles

Fun Fact:

Ankylosaurs may have had different sized tail clubs and more armor depending on if they were male or female (AKA sexual dimorphism).

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