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The Big Dinosaur Podcast

The Big Dinosaur Podcast

A site about dinosaurs

Episode 341: The “keeper of the gates of hell” hadrosauroid

Episode 341 is all about Vagaceratops, a chasmosaurine ceratopsian with a frill that was wider than it was long.

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:

  • Fylax thyrakolasus is officially the last known non-hadrosaurid hadrosauroid source
  • Massospondylus had a plastic growth pattern that varied in rate from year to year source
  • The National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton, OH, is having a free event on June 12 called Operation: Dinosaur source
  • Dinosaur World opened in Cumberland County, North Carolina source
  • Dickinson’s Dinosaur Museum has re-opened in Dickinson, North Dakota source
  • The new Mayer Museum at Angelo State University in Texas has dinosaur replicas throughout the building source
  • St. Paul, Minnesota’s Children’s Museum has the exhibition Dinosaurs: Land of Fire and Ice until Sept 6 source
  • A T. rex is now on display next to the Tate Geological Museum at Casper College in Wyoming source
  • In Brisbane, Australia, BrickResales’ showroom is displaying LEGO fossil builds source
  • Battell Park and Beutter Park in Mishawaka, Indiana have QR codes for Augmented Reality dinosaurs source
  • A fan theory for Jurassic World suggests that Dr. Wu is going to create robot dinosaurs to fight their organic counterparts source
  • Glen McIntosh, who has worked on several films in the Jurassic Park series, has a redesigned website featuring his collection and new work source

The dinosaur of the day: Vagaceratops

  • Chasmosaurine ceratopsian that lived in the Late Cretaceous in what is now Alberta, Canada
  • Walked on four legs, had a parrot-like beak, large neck frill that curled forward, and a nasal horn
  • Brow horns were reduced, more like bosses
  • Had a large snout with a broad, short horn
  • Frill was shorter and more square-shaped compared to the frills of other chasmosaurines (wider than it was long)
  • Had smaller parietal fenestrae compared to other ceratopsids (had two large holes in the frill probably covered by skin)
  • Had ten epoccipitals (small bones surrounding the frill), and eight of them were flattened and curved forward and upward
  • Herbivorous
  • Complete maxilla had about 28 teeth
  • Alex Tirabasso, an artist for the Canadian Museum of Nature, made 3D models of Vagaceratops to see if ceratopsians walked with their legs sprawled, or with their forelimbs like pillars beneath them, or somewhere in between. He found the in between posture worked the best, so Vagaceratops and its relatives walked with their limbs slightly bent
  • Type species is Vagaceratops irvinensis
  • Originally described as a new species of Chasmosaurus, Chasmosaurus irvinensis, in 2001 (by Robert Holmes, Catherine Forster, Michael Ryan, Kieran Shepherd)
  • Named a new species in part because of its broad snout, no/low brow horns (in place of brow horns are a pit or rugosities that may show bone resorption), and the frill
  • Named in 2010 by Scott Sampson and others
  • Genus name means “wandering horned face”
  • Genus name refers to it being a close relative of Kosmoceratops (and Kosmoceratops was found much further away, in Utah, US)
  • In 2010 paper by Scott Sampson and others, found that Kosmoceratops and Vagaceratops had similar derived frills (with the fenestrae and the curving forward bones)
  • Found Kosmoceratops and Vagaceratops to be sister taxon and not closely related to Chasmosaurus
  • Named in the same paper that named Utahceratops gettyi and Kosmoceratops richardsoni
  • Talked about Kosmoceratops in episode 173 and Utahceratops in episode 65
  • Found in the Upper Dinosaur Park Formation, and much younger than Chasmosaurus belli and Chasmosaurus russelli
  • Type specimen found by Luke Lindoe near Irvine, Alberta, and then collected by Wann Langston in 1958. Includes most of the skull and postcranial skeleton in an upright, crouched position. Found in one block (except the snout, which fell to pieces before it was discovered and collected separately)
  • Skull mostly complete, but fragmented, and postcranial skeleton nearly complete, minus the tail
  • Skull made of several hundred fragments
  • Thought to be an adult because lots of coossifications
  • Tentatively thought to be Chasmosaurus belli based on the shape of the partially exposed frill
  • Remained in storage in jackets until the 1980s at the Canadian Museum of Nature
  • Wann Langston and Dale Russell started preparing in the late 1980s, as part of a debate about ceratopsian forelimb posture
  • Found it was a new taxon
  • Two additional specimens found in the same area, referred to Chasmosaurus irvinensis. One was a crushed skull, another a fragmentary skull
  • Lots of debate around Vagaceratops, and whether or not its a valid genus
  • Some scientists have said they think Vagaceratops is an adult form of Kosmoceratops; others have said they think it’s more closely related to Chasmosaurus, and others say it was a sister taxon to Kosmoceratops
  • In 2016 Campbell and others found the frill of Vagaceratops was enough to make it distinct, but found Chasmosaurus and Vagaceratops to be in a clade together. Did not attribute the other two skull specimens to Vagaceratops and said they showed individual variation within Chasmosaurus belli
  • In 2019, James Campbell and others looked at Vagaceratops and tentatively reassigned it to Chasmosaurus, and said more fossils are needed to confirm or refute
  • Also said “the interrelationships between Chasmosaurus irvinensis, Chasmosaurus belli, and Chasmosaurus russelli remain unclear”
  • Also said they wouldn’t formally assign the two skulls previously referred to Vagaceratops irvinensis to Chasmosaurus irvinensis, and reassigned them to Chasmosaurus species
  • In a phylogenetic analysis, found Chasmosaurus and Vagaceratops to be in a monophyletic clade
  • 2020 paper: Denver Fowler and Elizabeth Freedman Fowler (Transitional evolutionary forms in chasmosaurine ceratopsid dinosaurs: evidence from the Campanian of New Mexico)
  • Referred to Vagaceratops (Chasmosaurus) irvinensis and Vagaceratops irvinensis
  • Hypothesized that Vagaceratops and Kosmoceratops show the most derived and successively youngest members of a Chasmosaurus lineage

Fun Fact: Both the Jurassic Park novel and movie have more dinosaurs from the Cretaceous than the Jurassic.

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

This episode is brought to you by Unidragon. Their beautiful wooden puzzles feature pieces which are each unique laser-cut shapes. Check out their dragon, owl, and other animal puzzles at Unidragon.com and use promo code dino for 10% off your purchase.

Episode 336: The most complete sauropod from Chile

Episode 336 is all about Chialingosaurus, a potentially dubious small stegosaur with long front legs.

We also interview Scott Johnston, a preparator & technician soon to be at Harvard. You can check out his work and science communication on Instagram & TikTok @mrdrprofjohnston and on twitter @MrDrProfJohnstn

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:

  • A new record for the most complete sauropod west of the Andes was set by the new Chilean titanosaur Arackar source
  • In Redcliff, Alberta, Canada, a 7-year-old, found a nodosaur tooth while hiking source
  • The Las Vegas Natural History Museum has a new life sized Dilophosaurus exhibit, created by paleoartist Brian Engh source
  • Wollaton Hall Natural History Museum in Nottingham, UK will have a new T. rex on display beginning July 4th source
  • Panhandle Plains Historical Museum in Canyon, Texas has a new exhibit called Dinosaur Discoveries: Ancient Fossils, New Ideas source
  • A Sinclair dinosaur sculpture was stolen from in front of Mission Mountains Mercantile in Condon, Montana source
  • In Perth, Australia, a family spent time quarantining by building a “Bagasaurus” source
  • A man is selling dinosaur and other prehistoric animal sculptures in Sweden source
  • The trailer for Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous season 3 has been released source

The dinosaur of the day: Chialingosaurus

  • Stegosaur that lived in the Late Jurassic in what is now Sichuan Province, China (Upper Shaximiao Formation)
  • Looks like other stegosaurs, with the small, elongate head, and had plates on the front half of the body (on the neck to the middle of the body) and spikes on the back half (middle of the body to the tail). Plates and spines thought to be in pairs (two rows)
  • Similar to Kentrosaurus
  • Herbivorous, and probably ate ferns and cycads
  • First stegosaur described from China
  • One of the oldest known stegosaurs
  • Type species is Chialingosaurus kuani
  • Fossils found in 1957 by Yaowu Kuan and a team from the Geological Survey of the Bureau of Petroleum of Szechuan
  • Described in 1959 by C. C. Young (Zhongjian Yang)
  • Genus name means “Chialing lizard”
  • Genus name refers to one of the four main rivers in Szechuan, the Chialingchiang
  • Species name in honor of “Mr. Y. W. Kuan who was responsible for this interesting discovery”
  • C.C. Young described Chialingosaurus as similar to Kentrosaurus, and said Chialingosaurus had a slender skeleton and slender spines compared to Stegosaurus and Kentrosaurus, and relatively long front limbs
  • Also said it had a short and massive humerus, that looks more long stretched than Stegosaurus and Kentrosaurus
  • Estimated Chialingosaurus to be 13 ft (4 m) long
  • Young thought the holotype was an adult, based on the structure and size of the vertebrae and limbs
  • Now that specimen is thought to be a juvenile or subadult, and Chialingosaurus may have been gracile because it wasn’t fully grown
  • Holotype, IVPP 2300, partial skeleton with six vertebrae, coracoids, both humeri, right radius, three spines, part of the right ischium, left femur, metatarsal, parts of the limb bones (no skull). The right side of the specimen was better preserved than the left side
  • More fossils and specimens found later. Second specimen found included a partial skull and lower jaws, vertebrae and limb elements, and four plates
  • Shiwu Zhou thought the two specimens were from the same individual (no overlapping material)
  • Third specimen found was a partial skeleton (no skull)
  • All specimens are now thought to be juveniles or subadults
  • Second species named in 1999, Chialingosaurus guangyuanensis, but no description and now seen as a nomen nudum
  • Some debate over the validity of Chialingosaurus. Peter Galton said in 1990 there was one trait that made it unique, the lesser trochanter (bony protuberance where muscles attach to the upper thigh bone) is triangular with a broad base
  • In 2008 Susannah Maidment and others in a paper on the systematics and phylogeny of Stegosauria, considered Chialingosaurus to be a nomen dubium (based on Maidment and Wei’s 2006 review of stegosaurs from the Late Jurassic in China, where they found the holotype of Chialingosaurus kuani to be a juvenile with no unique characteristics)
  • The 2006 review came to the conclusion that the stegosaur diversity in China was similar to Europe and North America from around the same time (they found of 7 stegosaurs named from China, only 3 were still valid), and because there weren’t as many different types of stegosaurs as previously thought, the claim that stegosaurs may have originally come from Asia “cannot now be upheld”

Fun Fact: The Andes weren’t around (or at least weren’t as tall) when dinosaurs roamed South America.

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

And by Adele’s shop of dinosaur themed jewelry StrangeMagicShop.com Follow her on Instagram @strangemagicshop

Episode 308: Turtles are the real murderers

Episode 308 is all about Tarascosaurus, a French abelisaurid named after a lion-headed, turtle-shelled, six-footed, dragon myth.

Our annual survey is live! Please let us know what you think of the show at bit.ly/ikdsurvey20

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:

  • The Evolution and Biology of Non-Avian Theropods session of SVP explored Tyrannosaurus growth, Allosaurus teeth, new finds from all over the world, and much more source
  • A 5-year-old in China found five 130 million year old theropod dinosaur footprints on a family trip to Chaoyang in Sichuan, China source
  • The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has a collection of dinosaur fossils including the Nation’s T. rex source
  • Kronosaurus Korner, a museum in Queensland, Australia recently launched an app so people can visit virtually source
  • In Singapore, there’s a new permanent outdoor animatronic dinosaur display called Jurassic Mile source
  • In Malaga, Spain, a Jurassic Park style theme park will be opening next year source
  • Some intrigue around whether Disney plans to reimagine the dinosaurs in the Disney Animal Kingdom ride, Dinosaur source
  • Jurassic World: Dominion released some more photos including a baby Lystrosaurus, which is not a dinosaur, wearing a mask source

The dinosaur of the day: Tarascosaurus

  • Abelisaurid theropod that lived in the Late Cretaceous in what is now France (Fuvelian Beds)
  • Carnivorous
  • Based on the femur, estimated to be about 6.5-10 ft (2-3 m) long
  • Type species is Tarascosaurus salluvicus
  • Named in 1991 by Jean Le Loeuff and Éric Buffetaut
  • Genus name means “Tarasque lizard”
  • Tarasque is a mythical dragon from Provence, France that had a lion-like head, a turtle-like shell, six feet with bear-like claws, and a scaly serpent-like tail
  • Species name refers to Salluvii, a Gallic tribe that lived near Mareilles
  • In 1988 Éric Buffetaut identified an upper jaw found near Pourcieux as an abelisaurid, and then later looked at other large theropod fossils found in the Late Cretaceous in Europe, and found they were abelisaurids
  • Then he found what became Tarascosaurus bones in the collection of the University of Lyon, found by an unknown collector on the steep slopes of Lambeau du Beausset
  • Holotype is part of a thigh bone, about 8.7 in (22 cm) long
  • Paratype includes two dorsal vertebrae, which may be from the same individual as the holotype
  • Other referred fossils include a damaged tail vertebra, and fossils from Spain
  • Considered a nomen dubium in 2003 by Oliver Rauhut because the fossils are too fragmentary and not distinct (diagnostic)
  • Said that abelisauroids in France during the Late Cretaceous was likely, but more fossils need to be found to show the phylogeny

Fun Fact: Some large turtles turn into hypercarnivores, even eating other turtles.

Episode 301: Fossilized Dinosaur Ovaries

Episode 301 is all about Bambiraptor, a small dromaeosaurid known from a 95% complete holotype of a juvenile.

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:

  • 9 dinosaur fossils have been found with fossilized ovarian tissue. source
  • The first dinosaur bone was found in Scotland, that’s not from the Isle of Skye. source
  • A large Triceratops skull was excavated in South Dakota. source
  • A Dino Summer event including a velociraptor chase through a corn maze is being held in Tatenhill England. source
  • The sauropod building in Spring Hill, Florida is now officially listed in the National Register of Historic Places. source
  • A design for a sauropod painted with geometric shapes was shared online. source
  • Fun piece of trivia: there’s a moment in Jurassic Park where you can see one of the crew members of the film grabbing a raptor’s tail. source
  • Photos of Jurassic World Dominion show baby dinosaurs source
  • Minecraft now has an official Jurassic World DLC source
  • Google Chrome’s hidden dinosaur game now has hidden weapons source

The dinosaur of the day: Bambiraptor

  • Dromaeosaurid theropod that lived in the Late Cretaceous in what is now Montana, US (Two Medicine Formation)
  • Very bird-like
  • Had a narrow snout
  • Had a wishbone, that looked similar to modern birds
  • Had long arms
  • Had a long, stiff tail
  • Tail may have curved upwards, but it could just look like that based on how the fossils were preserved
  • Had long hindlimbs, so probably a fast runner
  • Had sickle-shaped claws
  • May have had feathers
  • No feathers found with the fossil
  • But close relatives found to have feathers
  • Proportionally, was similar to Archaeopteryx
  • Type species is Bambiraptor feinbergi
  • Holotype nicknamed Bambi, by Wes Linster, the 14-year-old boy who discovered the dinosaur
  • Wes Linster found the skeleton in 1993, when looking for dinosaurs with his parents near Glacier National Park in Montana
  • Genus name because of the specimen’s nickname, Bambi
  • Genus name means “Bambi seizer” or “Bambi thief”
  • Species name in honor of Michael and Ann Feinberg, who purchased the fossils and lent them to the Graves Museum of Natural History in Florida
  • Described and named by David Burnham and others in 2000
  • Skeleton is 95% complete
  • Because the skeleton was so complete, has been called the “Rosetta Stone” of raptors (John Ostrom called it a “jewel”)
  • Right side of the skeleton is damaged, but the rest is in good condition (no end of the tail)
  • First thought to be a juvenile Saurornitholestes, and then later thought to be a new Velociraptor species, Velociraptor feinbergi
  • Helps show the link between non-avian dinosaurs and birds
  • Holotype is probably a juvenile, and is less than 3 ft (1 m) long
  • Holotype weighed about 4.4 lb (2 kg)
  • Skull was about 5 in (13 cm) long
  • Referred specimens include two adults found near the holotype and an upper jaw bone
  • Only the juvenile specimen has been described
  • Gregory Paul estimated adults to be 4.3 ft (1.3 m) long and weigh 11 lb (5 kg)
  • Holotype had a large brain for its body, but could be because it was a juvenile (had a larger ratio of brain-to-body)
  • Or may mean it was more intelligent than other dromaeosaurs; hypotheses include it lived in trees, or it hunted more agile prey like lizards and mammals
  • Probably ate small mammals and reptiles
  • May have been about to reach its mouth with its hands, so it could put food in its mouth with its hands (had opposable fingers)
  • Phil Senter found that Bambiraptor could hold prey in both its arms, bring its food to its mouth, and also touch the tips of its first and third fingers together (used fossils and casts of Deinonychus and Bambiraptor forelimb bones to test)
  • May have been able to grab prey, kill it with its claws, and then put the food into its mouth
  • May have also used its sickle claws on its second toes to kill prey
  • Senter found Bambiraptor couldn’t dig
  • If feathered, feathers may have gotten in the way of the hands, though Senter said he thought the hands may extended beyond the feathers (if there were feathers)
  • Description in 2000 said the holotype may have been male, based on its chevrons being similar to those in male crocodilians (but not clear)
  • Holotype found with hadrosaurs, probably Maiasaura, as well as at least three tyrannosaurid specimens

Fun Fact: Birds only have one ovary. It’s the left one. The right one is still technically there, but it’s tiny and undeveloped. In some birds, like kiwis and at least some raptors, the right ovary is still present.

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