MAY 2002
New Chinese Dinos from Field Museum
Come to the May 10 General Meeting to learn firsthand about two new exciting finds announced recently by a team including Peter Makovicky, Dinosaur Curator at The Field Museum. He will be talking about a new little feathered dinosaur (Sinovenator) of the Troodontids that is very important in helping to define the evolution of dinos and birds. The other discovery is Liaoceratops from the Cretaceous of China that is an early small ceratopsian that will be very helpful in understanding the diversification of the horned dinosaur. Come and learn about these very important cutting edge discoveries and what they might mean.
New Theory Called FUCHSIA
I bet you thought that you had heard it all. But I bet you haven’t! There is a new theory about the bird/dino connection that is floating about called FUCHSIA, short for "Flight Underwater Continued However Strange In Air". Now you have heard it all. The advocate for this idea believes that the flight stroke is too complicated to be learned simply by falling out of trees and floating to the ground. In the water they can learn the movements necessary to move quickly through the water and that will translate to moving through the air. Needless to say it is receiving a lot of criticism, questioning whether this theory will fly. (No this is not an April Fool’s joke.)
The Field Introduces Junior Tyrannosaurid
Finally, the young theropod found in 1922 in Canada by Elmer Riggs of The Field Museum has been announced. There were teasing previews of it on Members’ Night last year when some bones were on display. Now all the tail and the rear legs are prepared and their study by Peter Makovicky begins. It is specimen #51-22 as the fifty first one collected in 1922 and has been in storage until recently. It is 70-75 MY old and may be an Albertosaurus. The tail is eight feet long and is complete but most of the torso and skull are missing. The hope is that it will help to tell us more about the growth cycles of these animals.
Tiniest Giants – Patagonian Eggs and Babies
This new exhibit at The Field Museum is from the Argentine site found by Dr. Luis Chiappe of the Los Angeles County Museum. He wrote about his discovery in his book "Walking on Eggs". This is an amazing site with many nests of eggs, some with the embryos of Titanosaur dinosaurs. There are some actual eggs with the skull bones and skin impressions highlighted. There is also a copy of Carnotaurus and some casts of a few huge Argentinosaurus vertebrae included.
Madagascar Political Turmoil May Stop Research
Madagascar is currently suffering terrible turmoil following a recent election. The government has declared martial law in Antananarivo province and a blockade of the capital. Fuel shortages could lead to disruption of power and water supplies also causing food shortages. Air France has cancelled all flights until further notice. This may jeopardize the Field Museum field work that happens there every summer.
Earliest Species of Megatherium Found in Bolivia
An article by Saint-Andre et al in Geodiversitas reports that they have found a new species of the giant ground sloth in north central Altiplano of Bolivia. It is named Megatherium altiplanicum and is a sister species to the well-known M americanum. This suggests that Megatherium emerged by the beginning of the Pliocene and that its common ancestor must have been around before the Pliocene (2 MYA). All the larger animals found are from the Pleistocene (5 MYA). This early adult fossil was small compared to its later relatives. Its mass might have been about 3,800 pounds, about a quarter to a third of an M. americanum adult at about 12,000 pounds.
Darwin’s Bottles
If you get to the London Natural History Museum this year, you will see something special. Darwin’s bicentennial is in 2009, but the museum is already putting up a new Darwin Centre that will have thousands of his bottled specimens. The "Spirit Collection" of the Museum are all in alcohol and number 450,000 jars with 22 million specimens! This new exhibit will be a working space with interaction with scientists and behind the scenes.
Termites in Amber Reveal Digestion Story
An accidental drop of a piece of amber with an embedded termite provided an interesting story. The piece split in two right at the abdomen of the termite and when observed under the microscope, they could see the wood digesting microbes that helped the termite to eat. These single celled animals are very similar to those that are found within termites today. The amber was from the Dominican Republic some 15 to 20 MYA. Researchers speculate that the termites were eating the roots of the tree (an extinct member of the locust tree) that was oozing the sap that encased it. They were not able to identify the wood chips for sure however. Related termites go back to 40 MYA and there are some isolated wings that may go back to 130 MYA. They do have similar features to their closest insect relatives the cockroaches. And cockroaches date back some 300 MYA. There were 20 species of Mastotermes termites and now there is just one. The early termites did not appear to have any defenses except their jaws. Modern ones now have more defenses. Another interesting thing about the species of termite is the formation of a bubble behind their necks in the amber. It is analyzes as high in methane (26%) and carbon dioxide (11%). This is attributed to the action of the gut microbes that continued to digest even after the death of the termite. Some blame some of the increased methane levels today to the output of termite guts, but this is not universally accepted. There were actually three different classes of microbes in the termites. Because many believe that this kind of microorganism symbiosis could go back to 150 MYA, they would like to find evidence that is even older than these amber fossils.
Karen Nordquist, ESCONI Paleontology Study Group
Featured Web Sites
Field Museum of Natural History
SVP Society for Vertebrate Paleontology
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