Two New New Mexico Dinosaurs

This is really exciting stuff because Jim Kirkland (State Paleontologist of Utah) is the primary paleontologist involved in these discoveries. The two new dinosaurs have not been published yet so the information is still sketchy. The first is one of those weird rare therizinosaurs (related to T rex) that has been tentatively named Nothronychus (meaning sloth-like claw). It is the first therizinosaur found outside of China and Mongolia. Although it is on the theropod meat-eating lineage, it’s teeth indicate that it was probably a plant eater. It was about 15-20 feet long and stood about 10 to 12 feet high. It was bipedal but probably walked more upright than some of its relatives. It had a long thin neck, long arms, dexterous hands, four inch curved finger claws, a large abdomen and small head with leaf shaped teeth, a short tail and stout back legs. It lived 90 MYA in the Middle Cretaceous in a swampy forest area.

The second dinosaur is a small coelurosaur that has not been named yet. It was about seven feet long and three feet tall with longer arms than the T rex. There are parts of two animals making about 40-60% of it. Both dinosaurs were bird-like and are presumed to have had feathers. This is a period of time that has had very few North American fossils to tell its story. But hold on – they are also working on other new animals, including a new armored herbivore, a duck-billed dino, and a new small mammal!!! And these are the same people who brought us Zuniceratops!!!

New Chinese Pterodactyl

Liaoning China is again the site for the discovery of this Lower Cretaceous flying reptile. This is the first fossil record on these flying reptiles in Asia. Haopterus gracilis is dated to 124.6 MYA and has a long low skull without a crest. It also has slender pointed teeth, a long neck, long metacarpals, a sternum with a well-developed keel, a powerful pectoral girdle, a more developed wing digit and very reduced metatarsals. These suggest a fish diet, strong flight and quadrupedal locomotion.

Two New Chinese Birds

A Chinese journal reports the finding of two new birds from Liaoning China. Yanornis martini (yan is swallow) and Yixianornis grabaui are the names for these two Early Cretaceous animals. They both have some features of more advanced birds and strong flying capability. But they still retain primitive features like teeth in both upper and lower jaw, and more developed claws. A web photo of Yanornis is on the board. They are more advanced than Confuciornis

Largest Mesozoic Mammal from China

A Chinese Journal reports on the finding of a new primitive mammal in Liaoning China dated to the Lower Cretaceous. It has been named Repenomamus robustus and represents the largest mammal of Mesozoic age in the world. It retains some reptilian features, but has some derived characteristics, such as well-developed dental articulation, reduced number of teeth, and differentiation of premolars and molars.

Another New Dinosaur, a Spanish Sauropod

Wow! They are everywhere! This one is named Losillasaurus giganteus and lived in the Lower Cretaceous (near J/K border) in Spain. They found part of the skull, several vertebrae, humerus, ulna, radius and metacarpal, and some pelvic elements. In addition to the bones of this animal they also found two teeth from another undetermined sauropod, a tooth from an undetermined theropod and part of the skull of a stegosaur, Dacentrurus armatus. They don’t mention how big this new animal is, but it is a subadult and the humerus is 143 cm long (4.7 feet). It may be most closely related to Diplodocus.

New Anomodont From 260 MYA Found in Russia

A new animal named Suminia is a small squirrel sized reptile that lived before the dinosaurs. The Anomodonts were the dominant land creatures of their time. They had large jaws with teeth that could shred high fiber plant matter. It also had large eyes and probably had scaly skin. They have a very well preserved skull of the animal and can see how the teeth met in the jaw. Other reptiles like iguanas, crocodiles do not have teeth that meet in this way. The tooth wear indicates that it was almost exclusively a plant eater. Its serrated teeth did have horizontal scratch marks on it that indicates that it was capable of chewing plant material in its mouth. Earlier plant eaters simply swallowed whole leaves. Modern herbivorous animals may owe their chewing ability to this mammal-like reptile.

Big Animal Extinction by Humans

There were reports of two studies done to determine the cause of the extinction of big animals in the Americas and in Australia. There have been many theories to explain the disappearances but the new reports in Science blames humans. Other theories have included climate change, habitat change, and disease. Humans moved into both areas a few thousand years before the animals went extinct. The animals lost in the Americas included the saber-toothed cat, mammoths, camels, mastodons, large ground sloths and glyptodonts. Humans arrived about 13,600 years ago and within 1,200 years they changed the fauna. Some of the large animals, like bison, elk and moose, probably survived because their primary location was in the central plains where there were fewer humans. Large animals in Australia were gone within 10,000 years after humans (56,000 YA). The fauna lost included elephant-sized marsupials, giant snakes, and huge lizards (55 species – every land animal, reptile and bird over 230 pounds). There is also evidence that humans used fire as a hunting tool. That would have dramatically damaged the habitat for many of the animals, especially the larger ones.

Another New Cambrian Fossil from China

In Nature, D.-G. Shu et al report the finding of another new Lower Cambrian fossil from the Chinese Chengjiang Lagerstatte. This delicate soft-bodied creature is an early chordate (actually a urochordate or basal branch within Chordata) they have named Chengkongella ancestralis. It has a club shaped body with an upper main body and a lower, thick supporting stem attached to the free cheek of a trilobite. It is about 25 mm long (about one inch). They believe that it was a suspension feeder with water entering an oral siphon and leaving through a cloacal siphon after it was filtered. This animal may help in the evolution of the chordates.

Huge New Sauropod Found in Egypt

Americans from the University of Pennsylvania stumbled upon some of the bones of what may be the second largest sauropod yet discovered. Argentinosaurus from Patagonia still holds the title of largest. It has been named Paralititan stromeri which means tidal giant and honors Stromer for his past work. Josh Smith a grad student at Penn was searching for the area where Stromer found a large group of animals in the early 1900s, when he came upon this site. It is believed that earlier bones of this sauropod may have been among those found by Stromer, but the entire collection was destroyed in 1914 by a bombing raid in Munich during WW I. His Spinosaurus bones were also lost at that time.

It lived during the Cretaceous about 90 MYA, was about 80 to 100 feet long and may have weighed 70 tons. They have about 16 bones (about 20-25% of skeleton) including shoulder blades, ribs, pelvis, vertebrae and two forelimbs. The humerus measures 5.5 feet long. It appears to be closely related to Argentinosaurus that suggests a common ancestor when Africa and South America were one land mass of Gondwana. The good news is that you will be able to see the story of this find on A&E in a two part program called "The Lost Dinosaurs of Egypt" in the first quarter of 2002

Oldest Dinosaur Found in Brazil

There is early word of a new find in Brazil near Rio De Janeiro that dates back to 235 MYA. It measures about 6.5 feet long with a skull that is about 12 inches long. Its sharp teeth identify it as a carnivore. They have bones from three of the animals with two skulls included. It will be a year or two before the details are reported and a final determination is made whether it is a dinosaur or an advanced thecodont leading to dinosaurs.

Another New Chinese Bird

The new bird is called Longipteryx chaoyangensis and is reported in a Chinese Journal I can not find. It is from the Early Cretaceous from Liaoning and is like other enantiornithines (opposite birds). However, a copy of the photo was on the web and it again shows a thick filamentous covering around the body, but no sign of a real feather. It also shows long jaws, long wings, short hindlimbs, and adaptations for perching. It was probably a strong flyer and may have been an aquatic feeder.

Dino Named for Crichton??

This is just a quick note about something that may come up in dealing with the public. It was reported in the past that a dinosaur had been named for Michael Crichton, author of "Jurassic Park". This was supposedly done by Dong Zhiming in China. Apparently this was announced in a press conference in 2000 and made Michael prouder than receiving an Academy Award. However, the animal has now appeared in a book as Bienosaurus lufengensis!. I’m sure that there will be one named for him some time.