Episode 344 is all about Iguanacolossus, The “mighty iguana colossus” which probably wasn’t any bigger than Iguanodon.
We also interview Nizar Ibrahim, a paleontologist, anatomist, Senior Lecturer at the University of Portsmouth, Assistant Professor of Biology at the University of Detroit Mercy, National Geographic explorer, and well known for his work on Spinosaurus
Big thanks to all our patrons! Your support means so much to us and keeps us going! If you’re a dinosaur enthusiast, join our growing community on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/iknowdino.
You can listen to our free podcast, with all our episodes, on Apple Podcasts at: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/i-know-dino/id960976813?mt=2
In this episode, we discuss:
News:
- Baby dinosaur teeth from 8 groups were found near the North Pole, showing these groups likely didn’t migrate source
- The Boltysh impactor hit at least half a million years after Chicxulub so it didn’t play a role in the mass extinction source
- New details about the youngest dinosaur footprints found in the UK source
- Tyrannosaurus: Meet the Family is on exhibit in Richmond at the Science Museum of Virginia source
- The L. Alan Cruikshank River of Time Museum in Arizona has a near life-sized drawing of Sonorasaurus on its wall source
- The Lyme Regis Fossil Festival is happening online on July 10 and 11 source
- Listener Dino Bo was recently featured for his Protohadros hips which will be revealed on July 31 in Denton, Texas source
- Cardiff’s Bute Park in the UK will have animatronic dinosaurs from August 21 to September 5 source
- A group of kids started a neighborhood “dino club” in Riverdale, Utah source
- A psychedelic Another dinosaur music video by TORRES called Hug From a Dinosaur was recently posted on YouTube source
The dinosaur of the day: Iguanacolossus
- Iguanodontian ornithopod that lived in the Early Cretaceous in what is now Utah (Yellow Cat Member of the Cedar Mountain Formation)
- Looks like Iguanodon, bipedal, with the hoof-like hands and bulky body
- About the same size as Iguanodon
- Herbivorous
- Estimated to be 29.5 ft (9 m) long
- Estimated to weigh between one and four tons
- Found in 2005 by Donald DeBlieux, near Green River
- Teams led by the Utah Geological Survey excavated
- Described and named in 2010 by Andrew McDonald and others (in the same paper as Hippodraco, which we covered in episode 322)
- Type species is Iguanacolossus fortis
- Full name means “mighty iguana colossus”
- Refers to the iguana-like teeth of iguanodontians, and its large size
- Described as a “somewhat ponderous beast with robust limbs”
- Holotype is UMNH VP 2025, a large partial skeleton that includes parts of the tail, most of the backbone, some ribs, hips and shoulder (no legs, possibly legs were dragged off by a predator). Also includes parts of the skull, including part of the right jaw and two loose teeth. Teeth compared to Camptosaurus and Dakotadon, and one tooth (the broader one with a shield-shaped crown) thought to be a dentary, and the other, “the more lozenge-shaped crown” thought to be a maxillary tooth
- Distinguished by having a contact surface from the supraoccipital to the squamosal (skull elements) that is “sinuous in caudal view”
- Compared to relatives that lived around the same time but in different areas, seems to be more basal. Europe and North America were joined at the time, but Iguanacolossus was more primitive, so the iguanodonts from America and Europe probably didn’t interact with each other. Jim Kirkland said in a Salt Lake Tribune article, “It suggests the Appalachia [mountains] were more like the Himalaya back then. It must have been a more formidable barrier than previously thought”
- Probably a few million years older than Hippodraco
- One of the earliest known Cretaceous dinosaurs found in North America
- Both Iguanacolossus and Hippodraco help show diversity of iguanodonts in North America
- Other dinosaurs that lived around the same time and place included the sauropod Mierasaurus, theropods Falcarius, Geminiraptor, and Yurgovuchia
Fun Fact: We have a new definition for a “senile” dinosaur.
Sponsors:
This episode is brought to you in part by BetterHelp which offers professional counseling done securely online. You can get 10% off your first month by visiting betterhelp.com/ikd
