The Big Dinosaur Podcast

Episode 192 is all about Ampelosaurus, a “dwarf” sauropod that was only 52ft long and weighed 8 tons.

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In this episode, we discuss:

News:

• The first ever diplodcoid from East Asia was discovered, Lingwulong shenqi, and it’s also incredibly old for an advanced sauropod source
• The new Deep Time exhibit coming to the Smithsonian in 2019 will feature a T. rex biting the frill of a Triceratops source
• Dickinson Dinosaur Museum in North Dakota has a new claws exhibit to show the correlation between dinosaurs and modern birds source
• The Dinosaur Room in Rio’s National Museum recently reopened after a renovation source
• In the month of August, if you donate to certain Goodwills, you can get free kids tickets to Dinosaur World source
• A 16-year-old in the UK built a replica Allosaurus from scrap metal source
• In Las Vegas a man setup projectors outside his daughter’s window to simulate dinosaurs looking at her source
• A real estate agent made a listing go viral using an inflatable T. rex costume source
• There’s a Stegosaurus that holds nachos (the nachosaurus) source
• Robert Kirkman, who created the comic The Walking Dead, is now working on a new project called Super Dinosaur source
• Our five-year-old listner Remy was featured in a University of Alberta article after choosing Alberta as his birthday destination—for the dinosaurs of course source

The dinosaur of the day: Ampelosaurus

• Titanosaur that lived in the Cretaceous in what is now France
• Bonebed was found in 1989 (found ribs, vertebrae, limb bones, a tooth, and four osteoderms, different shapes and sizes). Fossils were from several individuals
• Named in 1995 by Jean Le Loeuff
• One of the best known dinosaurs from France
• One of the most completely known titanosaurs from Europe
• About 52 ft (16 m) long and about 17,600 lb (8,000 kg)
• Neck was short in proportion to is body
• Seems to have grown gradually, based on its bone histology (no signs of growth lines, though other titanosaurs also don’t have these growth lines)
• Herbivorous
• Had osteoderms/armor that were 9.8-11 in (25-28 cm) long
• Osteoderms were plate, bulb, and spine-shaped
• Inner ear had a more basal form (compared to Giraffititan), which may have restricted its movements, including head turning
• More than 500 bones have been found since 1989 (including parts of a skull and jaw bone), though the original description was only about a tooth and some vertebrae
• Jean Le Loueff wrote a complete description in 2005
• Type species is Ampelosaurus atacis
• Name means “vineyard lizard”, named after the Blanquette de Limoux vineyard, located near where Ampelosaurus was found
• Species name means “Aude river”, site was Campagne-sur-Aude)
• Smaller than its ancestors, so Coria and others said in 2005 they considered it to be a dwarf sauropod
• Lived in an ancient floodplain that had lots of river channels
• Other animals that lived at the same time and place included turtles, fish, crocodiles, birds, theropods, ankylosaurs, and the ornithopod Rhabodon

Fun Fact:

Every species of dinosaur (or other animal/plant) is defined by a single individual called the holotype. All future animals must be compared to that type specimen to be categorized.

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