The Ornithopod Thread- Hadrosaurs, iguanodonts and kin

Manuk

Just saw this on the bbc website: Polar dinosaurs used burrows to protect themselves from harsh climate conditions. Personally I never knew that about dinosaurs, it seems you learn something new every day... also, a new species of ornithopod dino was discovered.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_8144000/8144199.stm

Galvasean

Nice find. Another fine example of the versatility of dinosaur behaviour.

wrote:

The only other known dinosaur burrow was discovered in 2005 in Montana, US.

I seem to remember a reported hadrosaur that was supposed to have been hibernating when it died. I wonder if this is the one they refer to?

Galvasean

Here's a picture of Oryctodromeus cubicularis.

by James Hays, Fernbank Museum

Taken from here.

Galvasean

Nicknamed 'Antonio', the newly discovered 13 foot long Tethyshodros insularis was an island dwelling miniature version of the famous Iguanodon.

According to Fabio M. Dalla Vecchia, who led the project, Antonio is noteworthy on many counts. Dalla Vecchia, a researcher at both the Institut Català de Paleontologia and the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, told Discovery News that this dinosaur:

- is only the second ever dinosaur species named in Italy
- is the most complete medium to large sized dinosaur ever found in Europe
- could be one of the most complete dinosaur skeletons in the world
- shows for the first time what close relatives to duck-billed dinosaurs looked like in detail
Tethyshodros insularis means "island dweller hadrosaurid dinosaur of Tethys."

Full article here.

Galvasean

Two new dinosaurs related to the famous Iguanodon have been unearthed in Utah.

The larger of the two animals, Iguanacolossus, would have been about 30 feet long and is described as a “somewhat ponderous beast with robust limbs.” Hippodraco, at a comparatively paltry 15 feet, was a much smaller animal, and the remains described in the paper may have even belonged to a juvenile. Although both new dinosaurs are known from only partial skeletons, the bones are distinctive enough in anatomy and in their geologic context to justify placing them in new species. (Paleontologists also found the fragmentary remains of other dinosaurs at each of the two sites, but not enough was preserved to positively identify what genera or species they might belong to.)

Determining the true diversity of these iguanodonts and their relationships to one another will require more time and additional fossils, but at present it appears that the Early Cretaceous iguanodonts in western North America were quite different from their cousins elsewhere. Compared with relatives that lived at the same time in other places, both Hippodraco and Iguanacolossus appear to be relatively archaic species, meaning that they were more similar to earlier varieties of iguanodonts than the more specialized species such as Iguanodon. Andrew McDonald has already begun sorting all of this out, but for now it is clear that the Early Cretaceous West was home to a unique and varied collection of iguanodonts which we are only just beginning to understand.

Image by Lukas Panzarin

Summary article here.
Full paper here.

Adam Khor

We already suspected it but here's the proof; by studying the growth rings in the bones of polar dinosaurs paleontologists found that they were just the same as in dinos from tropical and temperate regions, suggesting these animals were fully active all year round:

http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Polar_dinosaurs_not_different_from_others_999.html

This is yet more evidence that dinosaurs were warm blooded and possibly, that polar dinosaurs had some kind of insulating covering (feathers and the like). I don´t know if you guys have a thread for this but, it is now believed that Leaellynasaura (of Walking with Dinosaurs fame... kinda) was not scaly as the show depicted it, but probably covered on some kind of feather or protofeather coat. The fact that its (extremely long) tail was flexible instead of rigid as in other dinosaurs suggests that it could wrap itself with its fluffy tail, like Arctic foxes and Snow Leopards do today, when the cold was too extreme or when it slept.



This also fits the fact that Leaellynasaura has huge eyes and optic lobe, suggesting enhanced night vision- useful during the darkest half of the year in polar regions.

Capt'n Midnight

in the absence of warm blooded preditors it's not that much of a disadvantage in being lethargic

in the kingdom of the blind the oneyed is king etc.

technically speaking bears don't hibernate either

any chance they stayed in caves in groups like sakes do ?

Adam Khor

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

in the absence of warm blooded preditors it's not that much of a disadvantage in being lethargic

in the kingdom of the blind the oneyed is king etc.

technically speaking bears don't hibernate either

any chance they stayed in caves in groups like sakes do ?

If they were warm blooded, and they almost certainly were, I don´t see the use of doing that- but you never know. We know some small ornithopods did live in burrows...

Adam Khor

It is one of the smallest herbivorous dinosaurs known from China; just 1 meter tall and about 1.5 meters long. It lived around 100 million years ago and was an ornithopod (a hypsilophodontid, I would guess?)

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/asia-pacific/china/120116/yueosaurus-tiantaiensis-new-dinosaur-discovered-china

Galvasean

Would not mind having one as a pet...

Rubecula

When I read the title I thought of the small plants getting eaten.

Started to put fencing around my geraniums just in case :D:D

Adam Khor

As any dino buff knows, there were at least two species of Saurolophus; one from North America and the other from Mongolia. Amazingly, fossilized skin has been found for both, and now a study finds that the scale pattern was actually quite different in both, otherwise similar species.

http://superoceras.blogspot.com/2012/02/saurolophus-skin-suggests-speciation.html

Adam Khor

http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0033539

It is not often that you hear/read something about Tenontosaurus that doesn´t have to do with Deinonychus.
Poor dino, forever typecast as the brutal murder victim...

Rubecula

Reminds me of a cartoon that we had in Uni. Mummy Lemming to Little Lemmings. "The one thing you should know about being a lemming, my dears, is EVERYTHING EATS LEMMINGS"

Galvasean

Adam Khor wrote: »

It is not often that you hear/read something about Tenontosaurus that doesn´t have to do with Deinonychus.
Poor dino, forever typecast as the brutal murder victim...

At least Acrocanthosaurus is getting in on the act these days to ad abit of variety...

Adam Khor

http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0036849

Galvasean

I like the name. I wonder what it means?

Adam Khor

It is named after the locality of Kundur, where it was found. :pac:

Galvasean

Adam Khor wrote: »

It is named after the locality of Kundur, where it was found. :pac:

Bah. I take it back then. I much prefer when they use their imagination.

Adam Khor

Galvasean wrote: »

Bah. I take it back then. I much prefer when they use their imagination.

Me too. At first I thought/hoped it would mean something like "condor-reptile" or something like that although it didn´t sound right for a duckbill... but whatever. It could have been much worst.

Rubecula

Chunderosaurus sounds better if it vomited brought up it's cud a lot

Adam Khor

Very little known dino; this seems to be the first case of neonatal ornithopods found in Gondwana.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1342937X12002870?v=s5

Galvasean

$31.50 for the full paper? Bit steep for me.

Ziphius

Galvasean wrote: »

$31.50 for the full paper? Bit steep for me.

It's unfortunate how much science is locked behind a paywall

Capt'n Midnight

Ziphius wrote: »

It's unfortunate how much science is locked behind a paywall

It's annoying how much publicly funded science is locked behind paywalls :mad:

Rubecula

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

It's annoying how much publicly funded science is locked behind paywalls :mad:

This ^^ :mad:

Ziphius

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

It's annoying how much publicly funded science is locked behind paywalls :mad:

Oh yes, that too, of course.

Hopefully funding organisations will follow the Wellcome Trust and their open access policy.

Adam Khor

http://www.sciencecodex.com/duckbill_dinosaurs_had_plantpulverizing_teeth_more_advanced_than_horses-99632

Adam Khor

Not paleontology, I know, but I bet you immediatly thought of Iguanodon?

This Japanese frog uses a bony spike on its "thumb" to stab its rivals, usually leaving scars, and also to secure the female during mating (also leaving her scarred). As if that wasn´t enough, the article mentions another species (a tree frog) that also has thumb spikes but specifically targets the eyes and ear drums of its rivals often with fatal consequences.

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/notrocketscience/2012/10/19/more-wolverine-frogs-japanese-species-uses-bony-thumb-spikes-to-fight-and-hold-onto-mates/



Maybe Iguanodon and similar dinosaurs such as Ouranosaurus and Lurdusaurus used their spikes in similar ways- meaning, not only as defensive weapons but to fight same species rivals and perhaps even targeting the most vulnerable spots of their opponents. Going for the eyes and stuff. Scary.

Capt'n Midnight

let's not forget ye olde platypus

it's so much that it's poison is very toxic but that the pain it causes is not eased by morphine because it behaves in a different way to things like snake venom.

not sure if you could call platypus venom convergent because it is so different

Adam Khor

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

let's not forget ye olde platypus

it's so much that it's poison is very toxic but that the pain it causes is not eased by morphine because it behaves in a different way to things like snake venom.

not sure if you could call platypus venom convergent because it is so different

I think it has been suggested that Iguanodon's thumb spike had venom too, like the platypus', although I think there's no evidence of it found thus far. But wouldn´t it be cool?

Capt'n Midnight

Adam Khor wrote: »

I think it has been suggested that Iguanodon's thumb spike had venom too, like the platypus', although I think there's no evidence of it found thus far. But wouldn´t it be cool?

was iguanodon bigger than megalania ?

Adam Khor

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

was iguanodon bigger than megalania ?

Yes, by far.

Nowadays it is believed that a 7 meter long megalania would weigh a bit less than two tons, and not everyone thinks it got that large, whereas Iguanodon was 3-5 tons, and perhaps even more since there's evidence of T-Rex sized individuals (and they were very robust animals).

Capt'n Midnight

Also turns out that megalania is more of a monitor lizard than a Komodo dragon.

So perhaps the denizens of Oz weren't fighting the largest venomous creature that ever lived 40,000 years ago.

It can't have been fun with two ton salties waiting in / near water and two ton lizards wandering around elsewhere

When you consider the animals humans faced when they got to Oz you'd wonder why they stayed

Adam Khor

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

Also turns out that megalania is more of a monitor lizard than a Komodo dragon.

Well, Komodo dragons ARE monitor lizards. And monitor lizards are probably all venomous, so megalania would still be if not the largest, then one of the largest venomous animals of all time.

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

When you consider the animals humans faced when they got to Oz you'd wonder why they stayed

Well all evidence seems to indicate that big crocs and giant monitor lizards were not rarities that evolved in islands, but rather common thing all over Asia and Oceania (and I think they found giant monitor lizard remains in Africa as well) and that Komodos are just the last remnants of said linneages. Plus in other continents the marsupial lions would be replaced by actual lions and tigers, bears, hyenas... I think the situation was just as bad everywhere. :cool:

Capt'n Midnight

Adam Khor wrote: »

Well all evidence seems to indicate that big crocs and giant monitor lizards were not rarities

salties are ocean going and komodo dragons have no problem swimming between islands.

our ancestors have faced/wiped out some nasty critters all right

EoghanIRL

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

let's not forget ye olde platypus

it's so much that it's poison is very toxic but that the pain it causes is not eased by morphine because it behaves in a different way to things like snake venom.

not sure if you could call platypus venom convergent because it is so different

The platypus is my favourite mammal

Ziphius

Adam Khor wrote: »

Maybe Iguanodon and similar dinosaurs such as Ouranosaurus and Lurdusaurus used their spikes in similar ways- meaning, not only as defensive weapons but to fight same species rivals and perhaps even targeting the most vulnerable spots of their opponents. Going for the eyes and stuff. Scary.

Interesting. I'd never thought of the Iguanadon thumb spike as being a sexually selected trait. I had a quick look at the literature (well, wikipedia) and there doesn't seem to be much evidence for sexual dimorphism in this species.

Adam Khor

A hadrosaur forerunner that coexisted with Utahraptor:

http://www.ploscollections.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0045712;jsessionid=86B786E2E9D209DAA937A5EB3FCE374E

Adam Khor

I think this guy is condemned to be forever mixed up with Altirhinus, even though it is a true duckbilled dino, not an iguanodont.

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08912963.2012.671311#preview

Not a lot of free access info to this moment, and no images. It was long known as the "Sabinas saurolophine", it had a very broad and arched snout, and that's about it.

This is the skull of a "Sabinosaurus" which I'm not sure if its the same as Latirhinus, or just a regular Kritosaurus. Seems this sort of dino was very common in southern North America back then.

Adam Khor

It seems to be some sort of iguanodont but the name has not been revealed yet.



Article is in Spanish. Here's the important stuff:

... at least six specimens of an eight-meter long herbivore whose main trait is the beak, very sharp and divergent (?), very different from the flat beak of other dinosaurs.
The remains of the new dinosaur, an ornithopod, were revealed yesterday before the press by the director of the Fundación Dinópolis, Luis Alcalá, who explained that during the last two years and a half, 348 bones from six specimens of different sizes and probably both genders have been identified. Worth mentioning are three skulls, two of them fairly complete, teeth, bones from the scapula and pelvis, and limbs, vertebrae and ribs.
Alcalá didn´t want to reveal the name of the new species for the time being, for its analysis has yet to be published in scientific journals. He did say that its age is estimated to be about 113 and 110 million years and is a relative to Iguanodon, another common dinosaur in the area.
Alcalá also noted the importance of the fossil site, for it dates back to the Albian, the last stage of the Early Cretaceous, an age of which there are very few fossil remains in Europe.
Besides the dinosaurs, the site has yielded numerous remains of crocodiles, turtles, fish and other known species of dinosaurs, as well as diverse plants and invertebrates- a total of about 5.000 bones

Galvasean

Iguanodon approves.

Adam Khor

Galvasean wrote: »

Iguanodon approves.

Then again, he tends to approve of everything...

Galvasean

Adam Khor wrote: »

Then again, he tends to approve of everything...

I have a friend who broke her thumb recently. We all call her 'Iggy' now

Adam Khor

Article in English with an illustration:

http://news.discovery.com/animals/big-nosed-dinosaur-discovered-in-mexico-121206.html

Adam Khor

It's a small ornithopod, similar to Gasparinisaura and Talenkauen.

It was about 1.5 meters long and was found in Antarctica:

http://permalink.gmane.org/gmane.science.dinosaurs.general/56156

Chances are high it was fuzzy even tho it appears naked here:

Adam Khor

http://phys.org/news/2013-04-scientists-rare-dinosaur-skin-fossil.html

Galvasean

Oh boy oh boy oh boy!!!!!!
How long do we have to wait?

Adam Khor

Galvasean wrote: »

Oh boy oh boy oh boy!!!!!!
How long do we have to wait?

I don´t know but if its tomorrow it will still be too long! :eek::pac:

Adam Khor

http://www.ploscollections.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0069835;jsessionid=54B6A5D569F1E06D8BA9273CC8C8C38A

Rubecula

Good find Adam.