The Big Dinosaur Podcast

Episode 170 is all about Auroraceratops, a neoceratopsian whose name means “dawn horned face.”

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In this episode, we discuss:

News:

• Scientists analyzed oviraptorosaurs from Mongolia and named a new dinosaur species: Avimimus nemegtensis
• The first unambiguous Triassic dinosaur from the Chinle formation in Utah was found, Coelophysis bauri
• Researchers studied how our knowledge of dinosaur diversity has changed
• From now until May 20, you can see the exhibit Giant Mysterious Dinos at Midland Center for the Arts in Michigan
• The Museum of World Treasures’ now has Ivan the T. rex, their signature attraction, permanently
• Thieves stole from Alberta’s Jurassic Forest Theme Park
• On Valentine’s Day, one couple in San Antonio, Texas got married at the courthouse wearing T. rex costumes
• San Marcos, Texas, has The Candy Wraptor Dinosaur Cafe and Candy Store
• Apparently, Gollum from The Lord of the Rings movie was inspired by (somewhat) dinosaurs
• Sharknado 6, which has dinosaurs, premieres July 25
• At the New York City Toy Fair, Mattell introduced a Jurassic World coding toy and 3Doodler launched a series of STEM activity kits, including one that helps kids build robotic dinosaurs

The dinosaur of the day: Auroraceratops

• • Neoceratopsian that lived in the Cretaceous in what is now north central China and South Korea
  • Described in 2005 by You, Li, Ji, Lamanna, and Dodson
  • Name means “dawn horned face”
  • Name is a combination of the fact that it’s an early ceratopsian and a reference to Dawn Dodson, Peter Dodson’s wife (Peter was one of the paleontologists who described Auroraceratops), Aurora means “dawn” in Latin
  • Type species: Auroraceratops rugosus
  • Species name means rough in Latin, and refers to the rough areas on the skull and jaw
  • Only one known specimen, a subadult, and consists of a nearly complete skull
  • Had a shorter, wider snout, compared to other neoceratopsians
  • Snout was high and round
  • Skull was flat and wide
  • Rough parts of the skull were probaby covered in keratin, which may have helped protect it in butting or pushing contests (fighting for dominance or mating rights)
  • Herbivorous
  • Had two pairs of fang-like teeth in the premaxilla, though it’s not clear why. May have been for digging and helping to grip onto plants to pull them out of the ground
  • About 6.5 ft (2 m) long
  • Second basal neoceratopsian found in the Mazong Shan area of China. The first one was Archaeoceratops. Another similar ceratopsian that lived around the same time but in a different area (Liaoning Province) was Liaceratops. Auroraceratops has enough differences in its skull to warrant being its own genus

Fun Fact:

We are in (or just past) peak dinosaur discovery.

This episode was brought to you by:

TRX Dinosaurs, which makes beautiful and realistic dinosaur sculptures, puppets, and exhibits. You can see some amazing examples and works in progress on Instagram @trxdinosaurs.

And by the Royal Tyrrell Museum, which is located in southern Alberta, Canada. Right now they are exhibiting their free-to-attend Winter speaker series (also on YouTube). More information can be found at tyrrellmuseum.com.