Episode 174 is all about Agustinia, a sauropod that was once thought to have had osteoderms.
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In this episode, we discuss:
News:
- Arkansaurus fridayi is officially a new type of dinosaur
- Researchers studied baurusuchids versus theropods and titanosaurs in Brazil
- Scientists found that two birds from the Early Cretaceous may have flown via a combination of flapping and ballistic phases
- Researchers found that early birds may have been too heavy to incubate their eggs
- Singapore may have dinosaur fossils
- An unidentified theropod skeleton will be auctioned in Paris, France in June
- From now until May 6, South Australian Museum in Adelaide, Australia, has an exhibit called Dinosaur rEvolution
- Gwinnett County in Georgia, U.S., is turning nine county parks into Jurassic Parks
- Second graders in Waco, Texas, U.S. get to go to “Dinosaur Camp” each year
- Washington State Fair Events Center in Puyallup, Washington, U.S., will have Jurassic Tour on April 7-8
- A fire destroyed the T. rex at the Royal Gorge Dinosaur Experience
- Members of the House Government Committee gave an unanimous endorsement for Arizona’s official state dinosaur
- You can now buy Jurassic Park Funko Pops
- WoWee is making dinosaur Fingerlings
- The latest Ready Player One trailer features a T. rex ripping apart cars
- ARK: Survival Evolved will soon be available on mobile devices, and Ark Park, a dinosaur VR game, is now on Steam and PSVR
The dinosaur of the day: Agustinia
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- Sauropod that lived in the Cretaceous in what is now Argentina
- Found in the Lohan Cura Formation
- Only one species: Agustinia ligabuei
- Named in honor of Agustin Martinelli, who discovered the fossils in 1996-1997
- Named in 1998 by Jose Bonaparte in an abstract
- Originally it was named Augustia, but that was already the name of a beetle, so Bonaparte changed the name in a full paper that was published in 1999
- Species name is in honor of Dr. Giancarlo Ligabue, a philanthropist who helped finance the expedition to excavate Agustinia
- Not much has been described of Agustinia
- Herbivorous
- Only fragments have been found: vertebrae from the back, hips, and tail, parts of the lower hindlimbe (they also found a femur but it was too fragmented to collect)
- Originally thought to have had osteoderms, that were supposedly wide, vertical spikes and plates on its back (like Stegosaurus), but later studies found they were probably fragments of ribs and hip bones (study of the tissues found they did not have the same internal structure of other titanosaur osteoderms)
- A lower leg bone was found thats about 35 in (89 cm) long, and comparing that bone to the same bone in other related dinosaurs led to estimates that Agustinia was about 49 ft (15 m) long
- But, since only incomplete fragments have been found, it’s hard to know much else about what Agustinia looked like. And because it didn’t appear to have distinctive armor, some scientists think it is a nomen dubium
- Hard to classify Agustinia because of the fragments, but it has features of diplodocoids and titanosaurs
Fun Fact:
From the Taiwan Land Bank Exhibition Hall of the National Taiwan Museum:
Fishing ships in the Taiwan Strait often find animal fossils while trawling the bottom for fish.
This episode was brought to you by:
TRX Dinosaurs, which makes beautiful and realistic dinosaur sculptures, puppets, and exhibits. You can see some amazing examples and works in progress on Instagram @trxdinosaurs.
And by the Royal Tyrrell Museum, which is located in southern Alberta, Canada. Right now they are hosting their free-to-attend Winter speaker series (also on YouTube). More information can be found at tyrrellmuseum.com.
