The Big Dinosaur Podcast

Episode 208 is all about Crichtonpelta, a Chinese ankylosaur named after Jurassic Park author Michael Crichton.

We also interview Matt Celesky, Research associate at the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science where he put together the excellent paleoart exhibit “Picturing the Past.” He is also the Senior exhibition designer for the museum resources division of the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs. He can be found on Twitter @clepsydrops

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In this episode, we discuss:

News:

• Crystal Palace Dinosaurs are raising money for a bridge to the Dinosaurs source
• The new sauropod Lavocatisaurus agrioensis was named from 3 individuals found in an unlikely spot in Argentina source
• Court proceedings about the Dueling Dinosaurs gave us more information about the amazing find source
• An ornithopod bone was found in Oregon, despite it being underwater during the Mesozoic source
• A bone first thought to be coprolite turned out to be the first known tooth and vertebra of Parksosaurus from Mexico source
• Mary Anning is in contention to be on the new £50 note source
• A Google doodle recently honored famous Canadian paleontologist Joseph Tyrrell source

The dinosaur of the day: Crichtonsaurus/Crichtonpelta

• Ankylosaur that lived in the Late Cretaceous in what is now China
• Possibly the oldest known ankylosaurine
• Not clear if it had a tail club
• Herbivorous
• Probably ate low growing vegetation
• Gregory Paul estimated Crichtonsaurus to be 11.5 ft (3.5 m) long and weigh half a tonne
• Dubious genus
• Found in 1999 at Xiafuxiang, in Liaoning Province in China
• Described in 2002 by Dong Zhiming
• Type species is Crichtonsaurus bohlini
• Name means “Crichton’s lizard”
• Named for the author Michael Crichton
• Species name is in honor of Birger Bohlin, a Swedish paleontologist who went on expeditions in China in the 1930s, and described many ankylosaurs, and found the tooth of Peking Man
• Found a lower left jaw and three teeth
• Two other specimens have been referred to Crichtonsaurus (included vertebrae, shoulder blade, humerus, thighbone, coracoid, foot bones, osteoderms)
• In 2014 Victoria Arbour said the two specimens could not be referred because there was no overlapping material to compare
• Arbour also said the holotype did not have any unique characteristics, and that Crichtonsaurus bohlini was a nomen dubium
• In 2007, Lü Junchang and others described a second species, Crichtonsaurus benxiensis
• Species name refers to the Benxi Geological Museum
• Found in the same formation, Sunjiawan Formation, as the type species of Crichtonsaurus
• Found a complete skull
• Gregory Paul suggested Crichtonsaurus benxiensis was a junior synonym of Crichtonsaurus bohlini
• Arbour found some differences between the two species shoulder blades
• Though she found Crichtonsaurus bohlini to be a nomen dubium, she suggested Crichtonsaurus benxiensis to be a new genus, Crichtonpelta benxiensis
• Arbour found other unique traits to Crichtonpelta, including a small bone on the cheek pointing upwards
• Arbour also said a skeleton at the Sihetun Fossil Museum, known as Crichtonsaurus bohlini, is probably Crichtonpelta benxiensis
• In 2015, Crichtonpelta was formally published and became a separate genus (Victoria Arbour and Phil Currie)
• Crichtonpelta means “Crichton small shield”
• Four Crichtonpelta specimens found: holotype, found in Sunjiawan Formation, a second skeleton without a skull found in the same quarry, the Sihetun Fossil Museum specimen, and a fourth specimen, described in 2017 by Jingtao Yang and others, that had a skull but no front snout (came from the same quarry as the others)
• Crichtonpelta holotype a bit larger than Crichtonsaurus was estimated to be (3-4 m long~10-13 ft)
• Mentioned Crichtonpelta in our book, Top 10 Dinosaurs of 2015

Fun Fact:

The T. rex named Trix (formerly the Murray T. Rex) was named Trix after the recent queen of the Neatherlands Beatrix. It’s the longest lived and third most complete T. rex found to date.

Sponsors:

This episode is brought to you in part by TRX Dinosaurs, which makes beautiful and realistic dinosaur sculptures, puppets, and animatronics. You can see some amazing examples and works in progress on Instagram @trxdinosaurs

And by Permia, makers of the coolest prehistoric clothing and collectibles this side of the Holocene! Their scientifically accurate t-shirts, hoodies, stickers, and figurines are available now at Permia.com Get $5 off orders of $35 or more using the promo code IKNOWDINO before the end of the year.