Episode 256 is all about Coloradisaurus, a Triassic sauropodomorph known from a nearly complete skull that was found in Argentina.
We also interview Taissa Rodrigues, from the Universidade Federal do Espirito Santo in Brazil. She presented a poster at SVP about teaching evolution using paleoart. She also led a session on women in paleontology and had a student present a poster on a pterosaur. Follow her on twitter @paleotaissa
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In this episode, we discuss:
News:
- Presentations from the first day of SVP all of the abstracts can be read here: source
- New dating shows Lythronax argestes is older than previously thought, no longer coinciding with a global sea-level drop
- There are tons of new sauropod fossil fields in southwest Queensland, Australia, near Eromanga
- Probable ornithopod, ceratopsid, deinonychosaur, and tyrannosaur tracks were found on a 200ft cliff in Alaska
- In Alberta, Tyrants Aisle has over 120 tracks likely belonging to Edmontosaurus, a troodontid, Tyrannosaurus, and another theropod
- CT scans of track slabs shows how dinosaur feet moved through soft sediments
- Laser-stimulated fluorescence (LSF) is being used to gather evidence of the first aerodynamically significant wings
- A new track site shows a couple sauropods walking together when a larger sauropod skids to avoid squashing a smaller individual
- New sauropod finds in Hateg island Transylvania, Romania may be a fourth genus, but isn’t complete enough to get a new name
- Dinosaurs and crocodiles have hard eggshells that evolved independently
- A new titanosaur was found in NW Kenya
- Low melanosome (color pigment producer) diversity may be linked to low metabolism
- Compacted coarse cancellous bone (CCCB) that is common in burrowing animals was found in the hind limbs of a new Oryctodromeus relative
- Exceptional fossils don’t necessarily translate to good cellular and molecular preservation
- New opalized femur fragments from an ornithopod in lightening ridge show that young were born in the area
- Melanosomes are not enough to determine color. Structure, chemistry, and diet also have a big impact
- Calcium isotopes from Morocco and Niger support Spinosaurus as a fish-eater
- More neornithischian finds from south of Melbourne may end with one or two synonymized taxa in the near future
- New research shows ovarian follicles in an enantiornithine
- A sauropod footprint was found in a new sauropod bone, adding to the idea of trampling sauropods
- A dinosaur stampede like trackway was found near Quilpie, QLD, Australia
- Coprolites can preserve some soft tissue features and other information about temperatures and habitats
- The name Kamuysaurus is meant to mean that it is the god of Japanese dinosaurs based on its incredibly complete skeleton
- Deep learning can process CT scans and save time on analyzing images
- Equisetum, or horse tails, were probably the most nutritious food for young and adult sauropods
- Birds use their necks in a variety of ways, but they tend to have a lot of traits in common
The dinosaur of the day: Coloradisaurus
- Massospondylid sauropodomorph that lived in the Late Triassic in what is now La Rioja Province, Argentina (Los Colorados Formation)
- Basal sauropodomorph
- Considered to be medium-sized
- Gracile
- Type species is Coloradisaurus brevis
- Genus name means “Colorado’s lizard”, and it was named after the Los Colorados Formation, where it was found
- Originally Jose Bonaparte named it Coloradia in 1978, but it was already assigned to a moth
- Named in 1983 by David Lambert
- Holotype includes a nearly complete skull
- A second specimen was described in 2012 by Cecilia Apaldetti and others (postcranial material, including parts of the vertebral column, pectoral girdle, incomplete forelimb, pelvis, hindlimb)
- The second specimen was larger than the holotype, and was probably a juvenile
- Skull has some similarities to plateosaurid skulls, so Coloradisaurus is considered to be a massospondylid that through convergent evolution has some plateosaurid characteristics
- Also has some similar characteristics to Lufengosaurus, a massospondylid from China (Early Jurassic); we cover Lufengosaurus is episode 159
- Other dinosaurs that lived in the same time and place include Riojasaurus, Lessemsaurus, and Zupaysaurus
Fun Fact: Wintonotitan, a sauropod from the Winton Formation in Australia, is not a titanosaur.
Sponsors:
This episode is brought to you in part by Columbia University Press. Get 30% off The Story of Dinosaurs in 25 Discoveries: Amazing Fossils and the People Who Found Them by Donald Prothero by using promo code DINO30 at cup.columbia.edu
