NOVEMBER 2002
Leonardo - Fossilized Hadrosaur with Skin and Muscles
Mummified
Reports are already starting to come out of the Society of Vertebrate
Paleontology (SVP) meeting from last week in Normal Oklahoma. One of the early
stories is about a mummified dino called Leonardo found in Montana with flesh
and muscles preserved. It is identified as a hadrosaur found by Nate Murphy who
reports that they have 80% of the skin and musculature of this duck-billed dino.
He died 77 MYA and was buried in river sand. Preliminary results indicate that
this hadrosaur had bulging shoulder muscles and enjoyed a last meal of some 40
types of ferns and evergreen wood that were found in the stomach. The fine skin
shows small scales and a rooster-like comb or frill running along its back. They
also have cartilage from the beak and claws
Alaskan Dino Found
Tony Fiorilla of the Dallas Museum of Natural History reports on the skull of a
pachyrhinosaur on the North Slope of Alaska. This animal could grow to a length
of 18 feet and a height of 7 feet. It may have had a large frill and a nasal
horn. They have found 7 skulls in a relatively small area of 13 feet square. It
was thought that Alaska was too far north to have much of a dino fauna. Just 18
miles from this animal, they also found several juvenile hadrosaurs, duckbills
that could grow up to 40 feet long and 10 feet high. Because there are so many
bones in this site, they speculate that it might have been the site of a river
crossing for herds. Although the weather in the Late Cretaceous was somewhat
milder than the freezing weather of today, it would still have been cold enough
to mean that they may have migrated or might not have been cold-blooded. Digging
has been 85% done by volunteers and the average field season is only 12 summer
days! These finds could be important in learning more about dinosaur movement
between Asia and North America.
China Issues Rules on Fossils
In the past Chinese fossils were protected by laws on cultural relics and by
organizations that did not know about fossils. The new regulations were
effective October 1 and will have a list of important fossils and fossil sites.
This may cause more paperwork for scientists digging in the field, but should be
helpful in prosecuting illegal activities. It will be under the MLR-Ministry of
Land and Resources, which will be inconvenient for some Chinese scientists.
However, it is hoped that this will be a first step toward improvement in
control.
Brazilian Spinosaurid Irritator Described
This animal is described by H-D Sues et al in JVP as the most complete skull of
a spinosaurid known. It is currently in Germany and was identified as a
pterosaur before it was prepared. Irritatior challengeri is dated to the Lower
Cretaceous of the Santana Formation and shows similarities to Baryonx and
Spinosaurus aegyptiacus. The skull is estimated at 600 mm (about 2 feet) long
with a very narrow snout and unserrated teeth probably used for impaling and
holding rather than cutting prey.
Eggs and Embryos of Troodon
Varricchio, Horner and Jackson report on further analysis of Prismatoolithus
levis eggs found in the Two Medicine Formation of Montana (Egg Island). The eggs
had been assigned to Orodromeus makelai (an ornithischian) based on based on
juvenile and adult remains found associated with them. They later discovered
that the Orodroemus bones found would not make a large enough animal for the
large eggs and they also found some adult Troodon bones near the nests. The
embryos within have been studied and now are found to be eggs of Troodon
formosus. Most of the bones appear to be ossified indicating that the embryos
were close to hatching. The Orodromeus bones found are now believed to be
remains of the meals of brooding Troodons, although very few bite marks were
found on them. Because X-ray did not detect bone in the eggs, they studied
partially broken shells. The eggs show many similarities to those of birds
strengthening the dino-bird connection.
A Speech Gene Found
A gene called FOXP2 has been identified as an important one in the ability to
use grammar and language. Members of families with a mutation in this gene have
problems with language. Studies of the gene in chimps, gorillas and other
monkeys show differences in the sequences in the genes. These changes may have
affected facial movements of mouth and lips and tongue. They believe that the
gene variation mly have become widespread about 200,000 years ago about the same
time that modern humans appeared. This suggests that language may have been a
significant factor in their evolution and success.
Seeds as Time Capsules
Many seeds have been shown to be able to sprout after many years of dormancy.
The current record is that of a 1,300 year old lotus seed. Now a report from
Michigan State University reveals continuing results from an experiment started
in 1879 when bottles of 50 seeds each from 21 common plants were buried several
feet deep on campus. At various intervals some bottles are retrieved and
attempts made to get them to sprout. In 1920 seeds of 8 species could still
sprout. In 1940 only 3 sprouted. In 1980 and 2000 only 2 species sprouted – moth
mullein and a mallow. The study will continue in 2020 when the next bottle is
dug up. These studies have important implications about the ability of plants to
survive difficult conditions like extinction events.
Second K/T Crater Found
A crater in the Ukraine that was dated at 73 MYA has been redated to 65 MYA. The
Boltysh Crater is a 24 km wide crater compared to Chicxulub which is 180 km
wide. Statistically the authors of the article (Kelley and Gurov) expect that
there are probably three other partner craters on the sea floor somewhere.
However, this is not provable, as the sea floor has probably been subducted. The
two dates may be as much as 250,000 years apart but could help explain some of
the extinctions in this period. It is possible that they will find other craters
that have been dated wrongly that can be added to this time period also.
Karen Nordquist, ESCONI Paleontology Study Group
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