Episode 108 is all about Rugops, a theropod with a wrinkled face.
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In this episode, we discuss:
- The dinosaur of the day: Rugops
- Name means “wrinkle face”
- Theropod that lived in the Late Cretaceous in what is now Africa
- Discovered in 2000 in Niger by Paul Sereno and a team, and was a big breakthrough in knowing how theropods evolved in Africa
- Named in 2004
- Type species is Rugops primus (“first wrinkle face”)
- Only a skull has been found, but it was first estimated to be 20 ft (6 m) long, based on comparisons to relatives (now estimated to be 14 ft (4.4 m) long)
- Skull had arteries and veins, which gave it a wrinkled appearance
- Blood vessels may have given Rugops some display features not seen in other theropods (make it look scarier/more threatening), or allowed Rugops to blush in its snout
- Skull had two rows of seven holes, may have been spots for a crest or horns, though it’s unknown for sure
- Skull had scales on it (armor), and Paul Sereno said it may be a scavenger “It’s not the kind of head designed for fighting or bone-crushing”
- Rugops is an abelisaurid, which tend to have weaker bite forces, and Rugops teeth seem to be weaker than other abelisaurids
- Probably had short arms, probably to help balance it’s large head
- First abelisaurid found in Africa (other abelisaurids found in South America and India); Rugops shows that South America, India, and Africa were once connected
- Before Rugops, scientists thought that Africa split off from Gondwana much earlier (120 mya)
- Now they think it didn’t drift apart until 95-100 mya
- Can see Rugops in the first episode of Planet Dinosaur, a BBC series (depicted as a scavenger)
- Can also see Rugops in Monsters Resurrected, a Discovery Channel series
- Rugops was one of the species whose DNA was used to create Indominus rex in Jurassic World
- Abelisauridae means “Abel’s lizards”
- Clade of ceratosaurian theropods that lived in the Jurassic and Cretaceous in Gondwana (Africa, South America, India, and Madagascar)
- Jose Bonaparte and Fernando Novas named Abelisauridae in 1985, when they described Abelisaurus (named after Roberto Abel, who discovered Abelisaurus)
- Bipedal and carnivorous
- Had short hindlimbs and ornamentation on the skull bones
- Skulls were generally tall and shallow
- Four digits on the hand
- Abelisaurids are also part of the group ceratosaurs (Limusaurus and Ceratosaurus had short arms in the Jurassic, like abelisaurids)
- Fun fact: The Jurassic World sequel won’t be coming out until 2018, but there are at least eight dinosaur related movies scheduled for next year: “My Pet Dinosaur,” “Thugs vs Dinosaurs,” “Iron Sky: The Coming Race,” “Absolution,” “My Jurassic Place,” “Dinonauts,” “Z/Rex: The Jurassic Dead,” and (hopefully) “Kong: Skull Island.”
This episode was brought to you by:
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