Episode 286 is all about Coronosaurus, a centrosaurine ceratopsian from Alberta, Canada.
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In this episode, we discuss:
News:
- Stellasaurus ancellae was named for its star-like frill and after the song ‘Starman’ by David Bowie source
- New seafloor samples show that cretaceous Antarctica was a freshwater swamp source
- Scientists in Argentina have announced fossils of a “Megaraptor” source
- Dinosaur National Monument is partially reopened, but the Quarry Exhibit Hall and other areas remain closed source
- a theater in Nebraska had an online viewing called Dinosaur Vacation source
- In Ferndale, Michigan, there’s a T. rex Walking club source
- A dad built an epic 48-foot Apatosaurus jungle gym in his backyard for his kids source
The dinosaur of the day: Coronosaurus
- Centrosaurine ceratopsian that lived in the Late Cretaceous in what is now Alberta, Canada (Oldman Formation)
- Described in 2005, first as Centrosaurus brinkmani, by Michael Ryan and Anthony Russell
- In 2012, named Coronosaurus brinkmani, by Michael Ryan, David Evans, and Kieran Shepherd
- Genus name means “crowned lizard” (corona is Latin for crown)
- Named because of the crown-like shape of the horns on its frill
- Unique in that most ceratopsians have individual horns or spikes on their frills, but Coronosaurus has a cluster
- Had a large frill and many horns on its head (brow horns over the eyes, a large nasal horn, and some spikes/ossifications on the frill that look like a crown)
- These ossifications are two clusters of curved hooks. Some point forward, some point backwards
- May have been for display
- Several specimens have been found
- Younger Coronosaurus developed short spikes that fused into the clusters as it aged
- Medium sized, estimated to be about 16 ft (5 m) long and weigh about 2 tonnes
- Phil Currie found the fossils in two bone beds between 1996 and 2000
- Type and only species: Coronosaurus brinkmani
- Species name refers to Donald Brinkman, for his research in paleoecology in Alberta (Late Cretaceous environments)
- Michael Ryan said he thought the hook clusters looked like the corona of the sun (outermost part of the sun’s atmosphere, which can be seen during a total solar eclipse, and looks wispy–astronomers can also see it using coronagraphs, telescopes that block out direct light from a star so you can see the things close to it)
- Ryan was a grad student when he first described Coronosaurus (as Centrosaurus brinkmani), and he said in an Ottawa Citizen article, “My fellow graduate students used to tease me by calling it ‘broccoli-ceratops’. “I have to say, there was about 30 seconds when I actually considered calling it a broccoli-ceratops.”
- Said in 2005 it “appears indistinguishable from Centrosaurus apertus in all aspects of its anatomy, except for differences in its cranial ornamentation (nasal, parietal, and postorbital horn cores)”
- The 2012 change was based on a 2011 phylogenetic analysis that added new characters to the mix, and the result was Centrosaurus brinkmani and Centrosaurus apertus were no longer considered to be sister taxon, so Centrosaurus brinkmani became Coronosaurus brinkmani
- Michael Ryan also recently named the ceratopsian Stellasaurus, because of it’s star-shaped fringe
- In the Ottawa Citizen article, Jordan Mallon said, “It’s funny, because Michael is not a beer drinker and yet he has named two dinosaurs after beers.”
- Probably lived on a coastal plain
- Other dinosaurs that lived around the same place and time include theropods Saurornitholestes, Daspletosaurus, Troodon, Dromaeosaurus, and Hesperonychus, ceratopsids such as Albertaceratops, Chasmosaurus, and Anchiceratops, hardosaurids such as Brachylophosaurus, Gryposaurus, Parasaurolophus, and Corythosaurus, thescelosaurid Albertadromeus, and the ankylosaurid Scolosaurus
- Can see a partial skull at the Royal Tyrrell Museum
Fun Fact: An adult T. rex was about 26 Gunter’s links long and weighed about 50,000,000 carats.
Sponsors:
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