Tag Archive for 'Dinosaur'

Evidence of desiccation in Edmontosaurus. Image credit: Drumheller et al., doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0275240.

New Research Indicates Simple Path to Preserving Dinosaur Soft Tissues

Oct 12, 2022 by News Staff

A new analysis of a natural ‘mummy’ of the hadrosaurian dinosaur Edmontosaurus from the Hell Creek Formation of southwestern North Dakota — which...

Artwork depicting one dinosaur’s experience of the Chicxulub impact. Image credit: Hermann Bermúdez.

Seismic Activity after Dinosaur-Killing Chicxulub Impact Lasted Weeks to Months: Study

Oct 7, 2022 by News Staff

About 66 million years ago, a massive asteroid crashed into Earth near the site of the small town of Chicxulub in what is now Mexico. This impact coincides...

This painting depicts an asteroid slamming into tropical, shallow seas of the sulfur-rich Yucatan Peninsula in what is today southeast Mexico. The aftermath of this immense asteroid collision, which occurred approximately 65 million years ago, is believed to have caused the extinction of the dinosaurs and many other species on Earth. Shown in this painting are pterodactyls, flying reptiles with wingspans of up to 50 feet, gliding above low tropical clouds. Image credit: Donald E. Davis / NASA.

Dinosaur-Killing Chicxulub Impact Produced Global Tsunami, New Research Suggests

Oct 5, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

About 66 million years ago, a massive asteroid crashed into Earth near the site of the small town of Chicxulub in what is now Mexico. The impact eradicated...

Dr. O’Connor with the skull of Sue the T. rex at the Field Museum. Image credit: Katharine Uhrich, Field Museum.

Holes of Unknown Origin Found in Tyrannosaurus rex’s Jawbone

Oct 3, 2022 by News Staff

A new analysis of enigmatic pathologies in the lower jaw of Sue the T. rex — one of the largest, most extensive, and best preserved Tyrannosaurus...

An artist’s depiction of a Late Cretaceous oviraptorosaur, a hadrosaur, and a tyrannosaur in central China. Image credit: Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Dinosaur Biodiversity Was in Decline Millions of Years before End-Cretaceous Extinction: Study

Sep 25, 2022 by News Staff

Paleontologists have collected and examined over 1,000 dinosaur eggshell samples from a fossil-rich site in the Shanyang Basin of central China —...

An artist’s impression of Ibirania parva. Image credit: Matheus Gadelha / Divulgação.

New Small Titanosaur Species Discovered in Brazil

Sep 16, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists have announced the discovery of a small-sized titanosaurian dinosaur in the Brazilian state of São Paulo. An artist’s impression of...

$A reconstruction of Tuebingosaurus maierfritzorum. The cortical bone on the left side of the fossil is fractured into flakes, which can be explained if the carcass was exposed over a long time on the mud, two to four years, before being buried -- in the reconstruction, the animal will fall to its right body side. The reconstruction shows the animal sinking in a mud trap, attacked by a rauisuchian, Teratosaurus, which has also been found in the Trossingen Formation in Baden-Württemberg. In the background, a herd of Plateosaurus trossingensis runs away from the scene. The flora in the swamp is reconstructed based on fossils from the Germanic basin, with shoots of horsetails and ferns covering the swamp and a forest comprising cycads, lycophytes and coniferous plants. Image credit: O.R.R. Fernández & I. Werneburg, doi: 10.3897/vz.72.e86348.$

New Long-Necked Dinosaur Species Discovered after Century in University’s Collection

Sep 8, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new genus and species of sauropodomorph dinosaur has been discovered, after being misidentified as Plateosaurus trossingensis and kept in the Palaeontological...

An artist’s reconstruction of Elemgasem nubilus. Image credit: Abel German Montes.

New Abelisaurid Dinosaur Unearthed in Argentina

Sep 6, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new genus and species of abelisaurid theropod dinosaur has been described from the fossils found in Patagonia, Argentina. An artist’s reconstruction...

The new Zimbabwean assemblage is on the same paleolatitudinal climatic belt as other Carnian dinosaur-bearing assemblages and has a similar taxonomic composition: (a) the northern Zimbabwean locality geographically links other Carnian dinosaurian localities across southern Pangaea; (b) the new Zimbabwean locality is the oldest definitive dinosaurian locality in Africa, coeval with Carnian dinosaur localities from other parts of the world; (c) summary stratigraphic column of the Pebbly Arkose Formation at the type locality in Zimbabwe showing the records of Mbiresaurus raathi (red), a herrerasaurid dinosaur (yellow), a traversodontid cynodont (blue), a hyperodapedontine rhynchosaur (orange) and an aetosaur (green); (d) representative fossils from the Pebbly Arkose Formation, including (1) aetosaur paramedian osteoderm (dorsal view), (2) herrerasaurid dinosaur coracoid (lateral view), (3) cynodont dentary (lateral view) and (4) hyperodapedontine rhynchosaur maxilla (occlusal view). Scale bars - 1 cm (fossils 1, 3 and 4) and 5 cm (fossil 2). Image credit: Griffin et al., doi: 10.1038/s41586-022-05133-x.

Climatic Barriers Controlled Dispersal of Earliest Dinosaurs, New Theory Says

Sep 1, 2022 by News Staff

In addition to the discovery of Mbiresaurus raathi, Africa’s oldest known dinosaur species, Yale University paleontologist Christopher Griffin and his...

Life reconstruction of Mbiresaurus raathi (foreground) with the rest of the Zimbabwean animal assemblage in the background: two rhynchosaurs (front right), an aetosaur (left), and a herrerasaurid dinosaur chasing a cynodont (back right). Image credit: Andrey Atuchin.

Meet Mbiresaurus raathi, Africa’s Oldest Known Dinosaur

Sep 1, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

Mbiresaurus raathi lived in what is now Zimbabwe during the Carnian age of the Triassic period, approximately 230 million years ago. Life reconstruction...

Paleontologists with the fossilized remains of a Jurassic brachiosaurid dinosaur. Image credit: Instituto Dom Luiz, University of Lisbon.

Giant Sauropod Dinosaur Skeleton Unearthed in Portugal

Aug 30, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists in Portugal have unearthed the fossilized skeletal remains of what they say is Europe’s biggest sauropod dinosaur. Paleontologists with...

An artist’s impression of a hypsilophodont dinosaur. Image credit: James McKinnon.

Paleontologists Reconstruct Small Plant-Eating Dinosaur from Opalized Fossils

Aug 30, 2022 by News Staff

Paleontologists have used a micro-CT scanner and 3D printing to reconstruct a herbivorous hypsilophodont dinosaur that lived in Australia during the Early...

Life reconstruction of Bisticeratops froeseorum. Image credit: Sergey Krasovskiy.

New Species of Horned Dinosaur Discovered

Aug 23, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new genus and species of chasmosaurine ceratopsid dinosaur has been identified from a fossilized skull held in U.S. museums for several decades. The...

Jannel et al. suggest that a soft tissue pad in sauropods would have reduced bone stresses. Image credit: Andréas Jannel.

Giant Sauropod Dinosaurs Had Soft Tissue Pads to Absorb Their Immense Weight: Study

Aug 15, 2022 by News Staff

How sauropod dinosaurs, which include the largest animals that walked the Earth, were able to withstand the forces associated with their immense size represents...

Life reconstruction of Jakapil kaniukura. Image credit: Mauricio Álvarez / Gabriel Díaz Yanten.

New Armored Dinosaur Unearthed in Argentina

Aug 12, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists in Argentina have unveiled a new genus and species of armored thyreophoran dinosaur from the Cretaceous period. Life reconstruction of...

Large predatory dinosaurs, such as Tyrannosaurus rex, evolved different shapes of eye sockets to better deal with high bite forces. Image credit: S. Lautenschlager, doi: 10.1038/s42003-022-03706-0.

Large Carnivorous Dinosaurs Evolved Smaller Eye Sockets to Allow Stronger Bites

Aug 11, 2022 by News Staff

In new research, Dr. Stephan Lautenschlager from the University of Birmingham analyzed the shape of the eye sockets in 410 specimens of dinosaurs and related...

Qijianglong guokr chased by two carnivorous dinosaurs. Image credit: Lida Xing.

New Species of Long-Necked Dinosaur Identified in Colombia

Aug 11, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new genus and species of medium-sized sauropod dinosaur has been described from a single trunk vertebra found in the Department of Cesar, north-eastern...

Embryological series of Japanese quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica) showing the transition from ancestral to derived pelvic states across avian prehatching ontogeny: (a) pelvic reconstructions along the evolutionary transition to living birds; note that pelves are shown as examples of character states and are not in one-to-one correspondence with ontogenetic stages; (b) during ontogeny, the ilium extends first posteriorly and then anteriorly, the pubis retroverts, the tail becomes relatively reduced and a transient pubic boot appears at intermediate ontogenetic stages; (c) the CFL (M. caudofemoralis longus homologue) is large during early ontogenetic stages; the IF (M. iliofemoralis homologue) originates smaller and further back on the ilium before expanding anteriorly to the derived condition and never splits into two muscles as seen in the adult; and PIFE1+2 (Mm. puboischiofemoralis externus 1 et 2 homologues) fail to fully differentiate until after the pubis is retroverted; muscles that are not highlighted are in gray; (d) the derived pelvic spinal nerve arrangement in birds (top), with additional spinal nerves contributing to the sacral plexus and nerves in Coturnix embryos (bottom). Scale bars - 1 mm in (b and d), 2 mm in (c). Image credit: Griffin et al., doi: 10.1038/s41586-022-04982-w.

Study: Developing Bird Hip Bone Passes through Ancestral Dinosaurian Conditions

Aug 8, 2022 by News Staff

Living birds have bodies substantially modified from the ancestral reptilian condition. The bird pelvis (hip bone) in particular experienced major changes...

Tyrannosaurus rex. Image credit: Mark Witton.

Study: Insufficient Evidence for Three Tyrannosaurus Species

Jul 25, 2022 by News Staff

In March 2022, College of Charleston’s Professor Scott Persons and colleagues suggested that Tyrannosaurus rex should be reclassified as three species:...

New Giant Carnivorous Dinosaur Unearthed in Argentina

Jul 7, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

Meraxes gigas, a huge meat-eating dinosaur that lived in Argentina some 94 million years ago, had short arms like Tyrannosaurus rex. Meraxes gigas. Image...

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