The Big Dinosaur Podcast

Episode 212 is all about Wuerhosaurus, possibly the last ever stegosaur.

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In this episode, we discuss:

News:

• Three exceptionally well preserved new sauropodomorphs in Brazil were used to describe the new genus Macrocollum (literally “long neck”) source
• Another new opalized dinosaur fossil was found in Australia, this one was from a jaw and named a new genus—Weewarrasaurus source
• Seven vertebrae from the banks of the Volga river were used to describe the new titanosaur Volgatitan source
• Histology on a fossil from northeastern China appears to show that enantiornithine dinosaurs had medullary bone source
• A bunch of dinosaur footprints have been found in Zhaojue county, Sichuan Province, China, at a copper mine source
• Zuul went on display on December 15 at the Royal Ontario Museum; Several events are planned around its unveiling source
• The new Field Museum Mesozoic murals drew a lot of ire for copying paleoartists’ work without permission source
• The Natural History Museum in London and the Smithsonian are working to digitize all the fossils in their collections source
• Disney Channel has a new dinosaur show, called Gigantosaurus (not to be confused with the actual dinosaur Giganotosaurus) source
• The Australia Zoo installed a new life-sized Triceratops source

The dinosaur of the day: Wuerhosaurus

• Stegosaurid that lived in the Early Cretaceous in what is now China and Mongolia
• One of the last stegosaurs (most stegosaurs were from the Jurassic period)
• Found in Xinjiang, in western China, the Tugulu Group
• Fossils found in three localities
• Described in 1973 by Dong Zhiming
• Type species is Wuerhosaurus homheni
• Name means “Wuerho lizard”
• Name Wuerhosaurus refers to the city of Wuerho
• Holotype consists of a mostly complete pelvis, vertebrae, humerus and phalanx, and two dermal plates; paratype includes some tail vertebrae
• In 1988 a smaller stegosaur was found in Inner Mongolia, Ejinhoro Formation, and described in 1993 by Dong
• Named Wuerhosaurus ordosensis
• Holotype of second species includes a nearly complete torso, vertebrae, and a complete sacrum with a right ilium
• Also a dorsal vertebra and dermal plate were referred to the species when it was named
• Another species, Wuerhosaurus mongoliensis was described in 2014 by Ulansky, based on vertebrae and pelvic material, but that’s now considered to be a nomen nudum
• Wuerhosaurus homheni probably had a broad body, broad belly
• Estimated to be 23 ft (7 m) long and weigh 4 tonnes
• Dorsal plates were initially thought to be either rounder or flatter than dorsal plates of other stegosaurids, but later Maidment said it only looked that way because they were broken, and how they actually looked is unknown
• Had tall nerual spines on the base of the tail
• Wuerhosaurus ordosensis also had a broad pelvis, but also shorter neural spines and a long neck
• Estimated to be 16 ft (5 m) long and weigh 1.2 tonnes
• Herbivorous, and probably ate low-growing vegetation
• Probably kept its head low to the ground
• Probably had a thagomizer at the end of the tail (spikes)
• One spike was found, but Dong thought it was on the shoulder
• Had wide hips, may have had a larger digestive area
• Some debate over where Wuerhosaurus sits in the phylogenetic tree, however Maidment in 2017 said Wuerhosaurus was most closely related to Stegosaurus
• In 2008 Susannah Maidment and others suggested Wuerhosaurus was a junior synonym of Stegosaurus, and that Wuerhosaurus homheni should be Stegosaurus homheni (because the holotype was similar to Stegosaurus) and Wuerhosaurus ordosensis was dubious (because the holotype could not be found and the description didn’t mention any valid diagnostic traits). However, Carpenter disagreed with this in 2010, and suggested Wuerhosaurus had enough distinct features and was separate from Stegosaurus
• If Wuerhosaurus and Stegosaurus were synonymous, that would mean Stegosaurus lived from the Late Jurassic to the Early Cretaceous

Fun Fact: Genus names have to be unique for every animal, but they can be the same as a plant name. So we can never name another animal Tyrannosaurus, but someone could name a flower Tyrannosaurus.

Sponsors:

This episode is brought to you in part by TRX Dinosaurs, which makes beautiful and realistic dinosaur sculptures, puppets, and animatronics. Get a baby T. rex sculpture or other rewards by joining their Kickstarter! kck.st/2FRwB9p

And by Indiana University Press. Their Life of the Past series is lavishly illustrated and meticulously documented to showcase the latest findings and most compelling interpretations in the ever-changing field of paleontology. Find their books at iupress.indiana.edu