tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-40718319615284670352024-03-12T16:47:49.290-07:00Prehistoric Pub"Pints and Paleontology."Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11914892485880621750noreply@blogger.comBlogger48125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4071831961528467035.post-635731579505883642018-02-26T19:39:00.001-08:002018-02-26T19:39:46.333-08:00Reducing a Monument - On the Ground QuestionSo the past two months have been super hectic, and the last week even more so. Between proposing monument management plans, BLM permit reports getting wrapped up, research, media, and of course my actual day job that pays my bills I feel like I haven't had a chance to get my feet under me and write. Fielding these media questions, though, has helped focus some of the thoughts going through my head. I generally, in my media discussions, tend to steer away from politics and focus on the science which might make for boring copy but keeps my employers happy. Anyway, one of the Frequently Asked Questions I've been getting from the Post, VICE, Salt Lake Tribune, Washington Post, National Geographic, and all the other outlets is, "what does removing the monument actually do?" That's a multi-faceted question without a super-easy answer, but I think it is worth tackling on multiple levels. Today, what that means from the standpoint of a monument without a monument management plan. This is kinda dry, but important. Please bear with me as we dive into the resource management aspect of this.<br />
<br />
<b>DISCLAIMER</b>: I am not a lawyer nor do I play one on TV. I am not a land manager either, nor do I speak for any of them. This is just the way I am seeing things and interpreting the various laws.<br />
<br />
To begin with, fossils have been widely protected across all public lands under the Antiquities Act of 1906 as "objects of antiquity," but are not explicitly called out in the law, so this protection has been up to some interpretation over the years. In any case it has been understood that for over 100 years fossil remains have some sort of "special" status beyond that of mere rocks or geological oddities.<div>
<a href="https://www.nps.gov/subjects/legal/the-antiquities-act-of-1906.htm">https://www.nps.gov/subjects/legal/the-antiquities-act-of-1906.htm</a><br /><br />The next major piece of legislation is the Archaeological Resources Protection Act of 1979, and it has been widely mentioned in media recently (especially from the vantage point of those looking to defend the reductions). Interestingly, ARPA specifically excludes fossils from protection. From ARPA, 16 U.S.C. 470bb, Definitions, Section 3" Nonfossilized and fossilized paleontological specimens, or any portion or piece thereof, shall not be considered archaeological resources, under the regulations under this paragraph, unless found in an archaeological context. No item shall be treated as an archaeological resource under regulations under this paragraph unless such item is at least 100 years of age."<br /><a href="https://www.nps.gov/history/local-law/fhpl_archrsrcsprot.pdf">https://www.nps.gov/history/local-law/fhpl_archrsrcsprot.pdf</a><br /><br />Legislatively the most recent thing, the Paleontological Resources Preservation Act of 2009 does lay out specific protections and rules for fossils, including vertebrates, invertebrates, and plants. Each land management agency is tasked with coming up with PRPA-compliant management plan. Under PRPA, casual collection of invertebrate and plant fossils found on the surface is allowed from public. The collection of vertebrate fossils requires a permit.<br /><a href="http://vertpaleo.org/The-Society/Advocacy/Paleontological-Resources-Preservation-Act.aspx">http://vertpaleo.org/The-Society/Advocacy/Paleontological-Resources-Preservation-Act.aspx</a><br /><br />The two biggest issues, in terms of actual on-the-ground protection right now (instead of in a decade when there is a Monument Management Plan implemented and in the FR) is that some fossils are indeed no longer protected when a monument's boundaries are shrunk; specifically plant and invertebrate fossils (which are really important for interpreting the ancient environment and can be highly significant in and of themselves). Anyone can legally collect those now, whereas in the 2016 proclamation it said, " Warning is hereby given to all unauthorized persons not to appropriate, injure, destroy, or remove any feature of the monument and not to locate or settle upon any of the lands thereof." Those items were protected from collection then, and now they are not. Additionally the monument provides protection from development (specifically commercial development), whereas multi-use BLM lands require monitoring and mitigation of projects (roads, powerlines, mining, hiking trails, etc.) that might disturb fossil resources. The fossils do not have the same level of protection on multi-use BLM lands as they do as "objects to be conserved" in a monument where they are an explicit priority for management.<br /><a href="https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2016/12/28/proclamation-establishment-bears-ears-national-monument">https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2016/12/28/proclamation-establishment-bears-ears-national-monument</a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Is it accurate to say that fossils have lost protections under the Trump proclamations? Yes. Some fossils are explicitly no longer protected in any substantive way (such as invertebrate fossils and plants), while others (vertebrates) retain their PRPA protections but don't enjoy a special status among the other possible uses for the land. So all fossils from an excluded area lose some protections, and some fossils lose virtually all of their protections. That nuance has been lost in many of the articles that have come out about some of our BENM work recently so I figured I would put this out there and hope that maybe those of you who are interested will find this post educational.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11914892485880621750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4071831961528467035.post-20545873936225642062017-12-04T22:12:00.000-08:002017-12-04T22:28:23.395-08:00A Righteous Burning Anger<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5sRwxg5foYM/WiY1sZZCjvI/AAAAAAAApFk/DBpxGCa-JUMQ8X7sO909Geh8Gg8F0oDdACKgBGAs/s1600/20170620_125112.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="360" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5sRwxg5foYM/WiY1sZZCjvI/AAAAAAAApFk/DBpxGCa-JUMQ8X7sO909Geh8Gg8F0oDdACKgBGAs/s640/20170620_125112.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A view towards the Bears Ears from land cut from Bears Ears National Monument</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
So here we are. Some seven months after my last post and the sky has started to fall. In a massive in-and-out trip, President Trump flew into Salt Lake City and after mispronouncing "Grand Staircase-Escalante," he announced that he would be signing two executive orders to modify the boundaries of both GSENM and Bears Ears National Monument. After invoking god and promising to have cattle grazing on the land (which they already do!), Trump flew back to the East Coast to hide in Trump Tower or the White House or some underground bunker with floor-to-ceiling Twitter streams without ever visiting the lands which he just mauled like a rabid wolverine.<br />
<br />
The <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2017/12/04/presidential-proclamation-modifying-grand-staircase-escalante-national" target="_blank">proclamation modifying GSENM</a> recognizes the importance of fossil resources to the monument and at least pays lip service to protecting those resources (though the reality on the ground is a bit different). I will leave the detailed explanations of those fossils and how these cuts damage them to others who have worked extensively in the area; folks like Josh Lively, Joe Sertich, and the late Mike Getty (who no doubt is spinning in his grave and spewing hellfire at the monsters responsible for this abomination).<br />
<br />
The <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2017/12/04/presidential-proclamation-modifying-bears-ears-national-monument" target="_blank">proclamation abolishing BENM</a> and establishing two new monuments, however, is a completely different story. As stunningly moronic as it is reprehensible, the proclamation showcases a complete lack of understanding of both basic geology and the resources. Contradicting the GSENM modification, the BENM modification claims that paleo is now well protected all over, despite clear evidence to the contrary. The proclamation then goes on to say, "East of the Bears Ears is Arch Canyon, within which paleontologists have found numerous fossils from the Permian and Upper Permian eras." This statement is complete nonsense, as there is no Permian or Upper Permian era (the Upper Permian is a division of the Permian Period), and there are no fossils known from Arch Canyon (as I have previously discussed). The stunning ignorance of just this one statement is echoed elsewhere in this awful steaming pile of rubbish.<br />
<br />
Expect more posts about this before the end of the year. I am furious right now. This righteous, burning anger will fuel my actions going forward. I'm not only not giving up, I'm going to help strike back. You should too. Join and donate to the <a href="http://vertpaleo.org/" target="_blank">Society of Vertebrate Paleontology</a>. Write your <a href="https://www.house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative" target="_blank">representative</a> or <a href="https://www.senate.gov/senators/contact/" target="_blank">senator</a>, especially regarding the insidious HR 3990 that attempts to abolish the Antiquities Act as we know it. Bombard the Department of the Interior with letters and calls, but remember that the folks on the ground, doing day-to-day management are not the ones who your anger should be directed at. They are trying their best to do their job in a horrible and uncertain situation. Aim your fury at those sitting back in Washington D.C.<br />
<br />
Remember this too: if you voted for Trump, you voted for this. You directly enabled this. I don't want to hear your half hearted apologies about how you don't agree with everything he does or whatever milquetoast platitudes you try to offer me. Trump and his people wrote a proclamation that basically says that I'm an idiot and none of my life's work matters. Let that sink in.<br />
<br />
We all knew something like this was coming. We hoped for an asteroid or an outbreak of common sense, but neither happened. Now we rise like lions, or are lost like lambs. Rise.<br />
<br />
"This court case will be like a Roe vs. Wade for monuments." - Jessica Ugelsich<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Msi5d_ndFkU/WiY2f1olrOI/AAAAAAAApFw/miNf38FcOeUY4NfuKlfmLrqTyUzpMwCiQCKgBGAs/s1600/20170903_104839.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="900" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Msi5d_ndFkU/WiY2f1olrOI/AAAAAAAApFw/miNf38FcOeUY4NfuKlfmLrqTyUzpMwCiQCKgBGAs/s400/20170903_104839.jpg" width="225" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A small part of a massive fossil bed, possibly one of the most important in the state of Utah, now cut from BENM</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11914892485880621750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4071831961528467035.post-4986244254147493272017-05-20T09:20:00.000-07:002017-05-20T09:20:42.427-07:00National Monuments, Paleo, and the FutureSo Bears Ears is back in the news, along with <a href="http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/04/28/525883061/photos-see-the-sweeping-american-landscapes-under-review-by-trump" target="_blank">every</a> <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2017/04/25/zinke-to-review-large-national-monuments-created-since-1996-to-make-sure-the-people-have-a-voice/?utm_term=.8923be5297f3" target="_blank">other</a> <a href="http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-national-monuments-pictures-20170426-htmlstory.html" target="_blank">national</a> <a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/04/trump-review-national-monuments-bears-ears-utah/" target="_blank">monument</a> created under the Antiquities Act of 1906 for the last 21 years. Despite being a powerful conservation tool used by essentially every president since it was signed into law, its gains (especially, in a strange irony, with protecting traditional uses) have been called into question by a small minority of Americans who feel that national monuments pose some kind of existential threat to their person, family, or lifeway.<br />
<br />
You may or may not have recently seen that President Trump recently issued an <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2017/04/26/presidential-executive-order-review-designations-under-antiquities-act" target="_blank">Executive Order</a> setting up a review of the use of the Antiquities Act to create national monuments since 1996. Bookending this EO are two national monuments created with paleontological resources explicitly called out in their proclamations; Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument and Bears Ears National Monument. These two monuments alone protect around 3 million acres of public lands with rock records that span virtually all of the history of vertebrate life on land. Their status as monuments has allowed scientific research to flourish (as in the case of GSENM) or is poised to allow scientific research to flourish (as is the case in BENM). This of course ignores the countless other scientific discoveries made in the nearly two dozen other monuments created under authority delegated to the president by the Antiquities Act; for our purpose here we are going to be focusing on the two monuments in Utah created since 1996 that include paleontology resources in their proclamation.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-j1EeA9eaGXg/WSBcdhc1ShI/AAAAAAAARiE/ch6CVq7JsqIJ_qQ0RkW4L2NG5A01eHaJgCLcB/s1600/18518282_10154604050452671_2643896165030336884_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="310" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-j1EeA9eaGXg/WSBcdhc1ShI/AAAAAAAARiE/ch6CVq7JsqIJ_qQ0RkW4L2NG5A01eHaJgCLcB/s400/18518282_10154604050452671_2643896165030336884_o.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Map showing GSENM and some of its paleontological resources, created by David Polly for the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<a href="https://www.blm.gov/nlcs_web/sites/ut/st/en/prog/nlcs_new/GSENM_NM.html" target="_blank">Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument</a> was created by presidential proclamation in 1996 under President Bill Clinton. This new monument, and several others created at the time, were part of a new sweeping set of public lands classification changes encompassed in what is now the National Conservation Lands. Despite a dearth of fossils having been published from what is now GSENM it was suspected or known by some paleontologists that the outcrops in GSENM had yielded some novel animals (such as <i>Parasaurolophus cyrocristatus</i>) and the majority of possible fossil-bearing outcrops had not yet been explored. Reflecting this, the White House took steps to protect fossil resources.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Xm_vZUj8eYg/WSBYgicb1XI/AAAAAAAARhs/QczDJvlJw5Me_qGqPkJNmgBOTTsSS7_7QCLcB/s1600/journal.pone.0012292.g003.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Xm_vZUj8eYg/WSBYgicb1XI/AAAAAAAARhs/QczDJvlJw5Me_qGqPkJNmgBOTTsSS7_7QCLcB/s400/journal.pone.0012292.g003.png" width="295" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Utahceratops gettyi</i> skull from GSENM. Figure from <a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0012292" target="_blank">Sampson et al., 2010</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
At present, over a dozen new dinosaurs have been described from the monument, with plenty more undergoing scientific write-up, publication, and review. <i>Utahceratops gettyi</i>, shown above, is just one of the thousands of spectacular fossil specimens that have been uncovered within GSENM, mainly from areas where detractors are hoping to remove monument protections.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-fhlsFybM4so/WSBbaKYB1WI/AAAAAAAARh4/djlgONZNQWsQ5YD1hkDU4hSV8i7_fMX1QCLcB/s1600/18527268_10154604050287671_8351424005889133400_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="312" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-fhlsFybM4so/WSBbaKYB1WI/AAAAAAAARh4/djlgONZNQWsQ5YD1hkDU4hSV8i7_fMX1QCLcB/s400/18527268_10154604050287671_8351424005889133400_o.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Map showing BENM and some of its paleontological resources, created by David Polly for the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Bears Ears National Monument was created by President Barack Obama under the authority delegated to him by the Antiquities Act, just like Bill Clinton used 20 years earlier. Taking existing public lands managed by the <a href="https://www.blm.gov/programs/national-conservation-lands/utah/bears-ears-national-monument" target="_blank">Bureau of Land Management</a> and the <a href="https://www.fs.fed.us/visit/bears-ears-national-monument" target="_blank">USDA Forest Service</a>, the new National Monument was created to safeguard traditional Native American cultural uses of the land, archaeological sites, and paleontological resources. Despite being a multi-year process that involved the state, land management agencies, local communities, various Native American tribes with ties to the region, and scientists like myself, this monument has been unceasingly attacked since the moment it was proclaimed with half-truths, <a href="http://kutv.com/news/local/police-warn-of-bear-ears-entry-fee-scam" target="_blank">lies, and an aggressive smear campaign</a> by some of its more unprincipled detractors.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ihQlbzMQNcU/WSBeg68f0FI/AAAAAAAARiQ/oSSiMTEh3bEwoH4iHbMp0wDwyrwJrqd3wCLcB/s1600/Figure%2B5-1-smol.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ihQlbzMQNcU/WSBeg68f0FI/AAAAAAAARiQ/oSSiMTEh3bEwoH4iHbMp0wDwyrwJrqd3wCLcB/s400/Figure%2B5-1-smol.png" width="272" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The oldest vertebrate tracks from Comb Ridge, BENM. From <a href="https://peerj.com/preprints/2662/?td=bl" target="_blank">Gay et al., 2017</a>.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
In this climate of (some) local antipathy, Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke came to visit Bears Ears and Grand Staircase. <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/ryan-zinke-interior-monument-decision_us_591e58e5e4b094cdba52c42b" target="_blank">Some reports claim</a> that he told local leaders that there would be some shrinking or rescinding of national monuments under review, including Bears Ears. If this is true, it would be a terrible tragedy, especially considering that these comments come before the public review period is even over!<br />
<br />
Which brings me to the point of this blog. If you love science. If you love fossils. If you love public lands. You <i>need</i> to make your comments heard. This is especially important considering the comment period for Bears Ears is only open until May 26th, a ridiculously short period of time for people to comment!<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QS9iLHX0Hng/WSBha8zL2LI/AAAAAAAARic/VkvMgPnGMaYHtktum-ZiGwtJdPRg4aIkACLcB/s1600/Regulations%2Bfailure.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="174" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QS9iLHX0Hng/WSBha8zL2LI/AAAAAAAARic/VkvMgPnGMaYHtktum-ZiGwtJdPRg4aIkACLcB/s320/Regulations%2Bfailure.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Screenshot taken from https://www.regulations.gov/document?D=DOI-2017-0002-0001 at 9:32 AM MDT, 5/20/17</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
This is especially true considering that one of the only weekend days of the BENM comment period the site is down all day for maintenance! Not only is internet access spotty across rural Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico, where there is lots of tribal support for BENM, but now the federal government has decided to have all-day maintenance on the comments site during one of the few weekend days that people may have time to write up comments or visit a location with internet access.<br />
<br />
Once the site is back up and running this evening (if all goes according to schedule), please leave a comment in support of science and continuing protection for paleontological resources within BENM and all national monuments. I've included a draft of my comments if anyone is looking for a starting point.<br />
Comment site: <a href="https://www.regulations.gov/document?D=DOI-2017-0002-0001">https://www.regulations.gov/document?D=DOI-2017-0002-0001</a><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Dear Secretary Zinke,</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
I am writing today in order to express my support for the national monuments currently under review by yourself and the Department of the Interior at the behest of President Trump. Not only do national monuments form a vital part of our nation's public lands, they provide meaningful and desperately needed protections for irreplaceable, scientifically valuable, and nationally significant paleontological specimens and research. Above and beyond what protections public lands have in place for fossil specimens, national monument status conveys additional scrutiny, and funding for research, education, and protection. Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument has produced dozens of scientifically important specimens since the monument was proclaimed in 1996; Bears Ears National Monument will do the same. Already scientists like myself are unearthing, studying, and publishing on amazing discoveries from within the monument. Reducing or rescinding the national monument status for BENM will irreparably hurt scientific efforts in the region and exposes these unique traces of the ancient past, that we all share as part of our national natural heritage, to damage and destruction by people who do not see a reason or find value in preserving and understanding the past. Fossil tell us about extinction and how environments change over time; the only evidence we have of many of these vast climatic shifts comes from the fossil record, including the Triassic-Jurassic transition within Bears Ears. I am calling on you and the Trump administration to fully support BENM and all other national monuments to the fullest extent and respect their existing boundaries under the authority they were proclaimed by powers vested in the President by Congress.</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Sincerely,</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Robert J. Gay, paleontologist and educator</blockquote>
Please take the time and<a href="https://www.regulations.gov/document?D=DOI-2017-0002-0001" target="_blank"> leave comments</a> in support of our national monuments and paleontology within them.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
</blockquote>
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11914892485880621750noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4071831961528467035.post-35648671771501167632017-04-12T14:18:00.001-07:002017-04-12T14:19:38.600-07:00Bibliography Project UpdateIt has been a while and things have been busy. I wanted to post a note to let everyone know that the BENM Bibliography now has a live, downloadable spreadsheet available free to the public. I will continue to update the static text, but having the references in a spreadsheet format allows for some cool analysis of the publications as historical documents and allows us to see trends in research themes (which is part of <a href="http://www.utahpaleo.org/annual-meetings.html" target="_blank">my UFOP annual meeting talk</a> coming up in late April).<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Anyway,<a href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1LFWT0AFY8dcQcgWEOAj9JAn1QOnoUs_CNO8K8Fi68bM/edit?usp=sharing" target="_blank"> the spreadsheet is available here</a> for anyone to use and will continue to be updated as I find more resources and new papers are published.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Next time on the PP Blog, a look at scientific accuracy in popular reconstructions of <i>Dilophosaurus</i>.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11914892485880621750noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4071831961528467035.post-47784424980896059802017-01-03T10:29:00.000-08:002017-01-03T10:29:08.746-08:00Red Canyon; Fossils and Silence<h2 style="text-align: center;">
Red Canyon; Fossils and Silence</h2>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">
or: How not publishing data hurt fossil protection in the fight for Bears Ears National Monument</h3>
<h4>
Some Background</h4>
<div>
Okay everybody, gather 'round. Time for Uncle Rob to tell the story of Red Canyon. It is a magical place, with soaring red walls and seemingly endless badlands. Rocks from the Middle Triassic through the Early Jurassic are exposed in its depths, and numerous historic uranium mines, roads, and artifacts. Gorgeous, desolate, and isolated, Red Canyon is truly an amazing location and was rightly included in the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition's proposal for a Bears Ears National Monument. It was specifically excluded under Rep. Rob Bishop's Public Lands Initiative and was also dropped from the final <a href="https://www.blm.gov/sites/blm.gov/files/documents/files/Utah_final.pdf" target="_blank">Bears Ears National Monument</a> boundaries.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-55MYmBgIbTs/WGaJtpfE_SI/AAAAAAAAOT0/ZFa1VZ4Bae4bBG1pBDNVNFA3vCg4gj8IwCLcB/s1600/Bears%2BEars%2BNational%2BMonument%2BMap-page-001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-55MYmBgIbTs/WGaJtpfE_SI/AAAAAAAAOT0/ZFa1VZ4Bae4bBG1pBDNVNFA3vCg4gj8IwCLcB/s400/Bears%2BEars%2BNational%2BMonument%2BMap-page-001.jpg" width="308" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bears Ears National Monument Map - Department of the Interior</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Besides the odd isolate on the west side of the map (just east of Lake Powell), the Red Canyon/Moqui Canyon stretch of high deserts, plateaus, and canyons is not protected within the Monument boundaries. Why might that be? One reason is likely <a href="http://www.energyfuels.com/" target="_blank">Energy Fuels</a>' <a href="http://www.energyfuels.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Daneros_Technical-Report_July_08_2012.pdf" target="_blank">Daneros Mine</a>, located in upper Red Canyon. The other reason might have something to do with paleontological discoveries that are more like tech "vaporware" than hard science at the moment.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h4>
Paleontology in Red Canyon</h4>
<div>
I am not going to dwell long on current, ongoing projects in Red Canyon headed up by my friends and colleagues that have started in the last couple of years. For one that would be unfair and unethical since they are investing time and energy into their discoveries. For another, everyone involved in research in Red Canyon currently has a solid record of publishing their work. I am confident that any new discoveries that come out of the Red Canyon area will be properly published in the scientific literature.</div>
<div>
This is a tough subject to write about because the core of the issue are fossils that have never been published. This whole story exists, however, because these fossils have never been published. So I will not name institutions or people involved. I won't even really describe these fossils in any sort of detail because that would be inappropriate. Nonetheless, these fossils existence is known within the small community of paleontologists who work on the Triassic Period in western North America. The most famous are some small reptile skeletons, but other specimens played a role in this story. These specimens are far more interesting than I let on here but I don't want to say much more because the fossils are still undescribed. These reptile skeletons were discovered first back in either the 1960s or 1970s (depending on who is telling the story). They went to a museum back east where they have set ever since. They have been prepared, they have been seen by dozens of visiting researchers, and although they are remarkable they have never been described in a formal publication (or even in the "grey literature" as far as anyone seems to know). A couple of other scientific publications have come out of work done in Red Canyon but they were not describing anything new, unique, or spectacular for the most part: crocodylomorph scutes, phytosaur bones and teeth, etc. (Parrish and Good, 1987; Parrish, 1999). Not to say that these aren't important to document but they don't carry the scientific significance of a new species, for example.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h4>
Red Canyon on the Chopping Block</h4>
<div>
So why does this matter? Well, as I mentioned in <a href="http://prehistoricpub.blogspot.com/2016/12/the-fight-for-paleontology-in-bears-ears.html" target="_blank">my last blog post</a>, I was asked to provide bibliographies of the paleontological and geological resources of the Bears Ears area. I was also eventually asked to go to Washington DC and present that information (and more) in person. I had produced, along with some of the conservation groups who I had been in contact with, a map highlighting several things. A modified version of this map is reproduced below.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-IrFQT_zYhfc/WGdDpuChQKI/AAAAAAAAOUU/G1znxFh3s-00AuaJLKoWVLiTzXJwgN_WACLcB/s1600/BearsEars_PaleoPotentialResources_110416-page-002.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-IrFQT_zYhfc/WGdDpuChQKI/AAAAAAAAOUU/G1znxFh3s-00AuaJLKoWVLiTzXJwgN_WACLcB/s400/BearsEars_PaleoPotentialResources_110416-page-002.png" width="308" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Map of the Bears Ears Area before monument designation. Geologic data from Utah Geological Survey database.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
This map outlined both the Utah Public Lands Initiative and the Inter-Tribal Coalition's proposals, and overlaid both areas of known paleontological resources (red hashes in 1. Red Canyon, 2. Valley of the Gods, 3. Comb Ridge, and 4. Indian Creek) and areas pulled from the Utah Geological Survey's online public geologic map database showing where the fossil-rich Chinle and Morrison Formations are exposed (in green). This was done to highlight the potential for new discoveries in this region that has not been systematically explored by paleontologists. This is where I ran head-on into the realities of the wheels of power looking at the various conservation options. Anyone who says that this was a sort of midnight "swoop" into southeastern Utah without considering all the factors doesn't know how these proceedings work.<br />
<br />
<h4>
Publications Count</h4>
<div>
This is probably the best "real-world" example of why publishing your finds matter. It might not be a priority to you. It might be a pain, it might take more time than you want, it might get caught up in the chaos of a job change or move. It doesn't matter; publish what you find. Is it all going to be flashy? Hell no. Does it provide useful data for your future colleagues or students in 10, 20, 50, 150 years? It sure does. Perhaps most broadly applicable here, does it provide people outside the science entirely with something solid to point to when trying to decide on the "value" of the land? You better believe it. Without anything concrete to point to about the nationally significant scientific value of Red Canyon, when lawmakers, bureaucrats, and administration officials asked how I could show the area needed protection I couldn't respond. At the Department of the Interior I was repeatedly asked to support my claims that paleontology needed to be protected and what areas were most significant. There are publications, preprints, and abstracts to support the scientific value of Indian Creek, Comb Ridge, and Valley of the Gods. There was nothing to point to for Red Canyon.</div>
<div>
This also brings up a point that my friend Jim has raised on Facebook. The proclamation language heavily favors the Triassic fossils from the region. Part of this is likely due to some of my experience bias creeping in; I mainly work in the Triassic. The majority of that, however, comes again from the published record. While there are hundreds (thousands?) of acres of Middle Mesozoic sediments exposed in the Bears Ears area (see the map above), almost nothing has been published on fossils from those sediments in the Bears Ears. Comparatively the Late Paleozoic and Early Mesozoic comprise the vast majority of the published record for the region. In meetings with the DoI, again, I was essentially told that knowing that something <i>might</i> be out there is nice, the government can't set aside this land from all other purposes based on a possibility. In setting up proclamation language we didn't ignore mid-Mesozoic finds; those projects have either been sidelined, ignored, or not started by our own profession in favor of work elsewhere. And I recognize that it is a tough balancing act. My work in Bears Ears has meant I haven't been following up on leads in other places. We all only have so much time, energy, and funding.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h4>
Conclusion</h4>
<div>
Would scientists publishing in the 80s or 90s on the Red Canyon reptile material have made a difference? Would Red Canyon now be part of Bears Ears National Monument had these reptiles (and other, more recent but unpublished finds) become part of the published scientific record? That's a what-if game that has no right answer; its inclusion would still have to fight against powerful interests looking to preserve uranium mining in Red Canyon. I do know that it couldn't have hurt and its absence was the weakest point by far in all my efforts to get paleontology covered under a BENM or any legislative action. We shouldn't be publishing for solely political cynicism but sitting on scientifically significant fossils for 40-50 years should <i>not</i> be considered normal or acceptable. This is especially true in this age of rapid, rigorous peer review and digital publication. Sitting on specimens for that long hurts science, hurts future work in the area, and may even end up hurting the very place the fossils came from.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h4>
Works Cited</h4>
<div>
Instead of my usual works cited section here I am going to take this space to say I am going to be creating a Bears Ears Bibliography page here on the blog. This will be a core page here on the blog and will be added to as new papers either come to light or are published. They will be live-linked when possible. Expect this to go live in the first week of 2017. It will start with the bibliography I prepared for the White House so you can see (if you didn't get an e-mail from me before all of this) what I was working from. If you think something is missing and should be included after it goes live, don't hesitate to point it out!</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11914892485880621750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4071831961528467035.post-44670057621036373012017-01-02T20:55:00.001-08:002017-01-02T21:14:31.786-08:00Help Save Dinosaur Ridge!!!<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Dinosaur Ridge Needs Your Help</span></b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Dinosaur Ridge, a tourist attraction
where the first specimen of <i>Stegosaurus </i>was found is under
threat to become a car dealership. I implore everyone, especially Colorado
natives, to express their disdain with the commissioners who will vote on
whether to approve the dealership. Here's the post from the Facebook page 'Save
Dinosaur Ridge':<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">We need all of the commissioners getting letters
-- as many as possible -- saying that we do NOT want car dealerships at
Dinosaur Ridge. The email can be simple and straight forward. You can just
say whatever is in your heart, in a civil way. Help the Commissioners hear the
message:VOTE NO on the re-zoning to allow a car dealership at the intersection
of Alameda and C-470.<br />
Here are the contacts to write to:<br />
Libby Szabo, District 1 Commissioner: commish1@jeffco.us<br />
Casey Tighe, District 2 Commissioner: commish2@jeffco.us<br />
Donald Rosier, District 3 Commissioner: commish3@jeffco.us<br />
Please cc the Case Manager, Heather Gutherless, Hgutherl@jeffco.us</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="color: red; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kPW3a4L51uk/WGsy_6qRkLI/AAAAAAAAAKw/zuLXVhPnWPwOVg2RaNPqwqt06CjsZM4fwCLcB/s1600/dinosaur-ridge-morrison-36.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kPW3a4L51uk/WGsy_6qRkLI/AAAAAAAAAKw/zuLXVhPnWPwOVg2RaNPqwqt06CjsZM4fwCLcB/s320/dinosaur-ridge-morrison-36.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="color: #999999; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">Trackway at Dinosaur Ridge</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<h4>
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">Edit: </span></b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">Here
is "Save Dinosaur Ridge' most recent post: </span></h4>
</div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">FOUR WAYS TO HELP SAVE
DINO RIDGE TODAY:</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">(1)</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">WRITE
A LETTER (and CC SaveDinosaurRidge@gmail.com)</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Board
of County Commissioners</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">c/o
Heather Gutherless, Case Manager</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">100
Jefferson County Pkwy, Golden, CO 80419</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 13.5pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br />
<br />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br />
<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">In the letter, please
identify yourself as a concerned citizen, and simply state that you oppose a
car dealership at the intersection of Alameda and C-470. (“Please vote “no” on
Jan 17 at the meeting decide whether or not to rezone land around Dinosaur
Ridge.”) or longer and more personal.</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">The important thing is
that the letter get to the Board NO LATER THAN Jan 10.</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">(2)</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">USE THE COUNTY WEBSITE SUBMITTABLE FORM to send written comments:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="http://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fjeffco.us%2Fbcc%2Fcontact%2F&h=EAQHur6TsAQHOU0_NBASe173J7ZyTPUT8ekOoC45fIPzrXQ&enc=AZN1U02UunoRu52hGNhYd7Mvslx7UPXcN9CN5iSpA2HGYF01jNMIMaG289ZAjP4HYFhkf8ya_fUX_lDS4uS4fHx2rXtuMGgZmhip5huRP6ln0mflNCcoDOssson5letk6PiqbpUiTUJfx_mz9i96TRDF9Og0GSGkcvrQOE-3wEEpleh3NmV99c0PUDaHbmbjwj8&s=1"><span style="color: blue; text-decoration: none;">http://jeffco.us/bcc/contact/</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">(3)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">MAKE A PHONE CALL TO THE BOARD:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">303-271-8525 – Monday thru Friday – 7:30am to 5:30pm<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">The Case Manager is
Heather Gutherless.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">(4)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">REACH OUT TO EACH OF THE COMMISSIONERS via social media, or their
own websites and email addresses<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">These links will help you
know what district you live in, so that you can contact the commissioner who
represents you.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">It is fine to contact all
three of them, but they are most interested in hearing from citizens inside
their own districts:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="http://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fjeffco.us%2Fbcc%2Fabout%2F&h=-AQHRIRIeAQHSfoGD0BYf33Am4BQ5eWpJA8Gejih9LChFKw&enc=AZMa7M1ErCUNLbAFhCEUwE8NLW_YoAC6QBQ2fx5DqY2mmsqSpAuIkK33L2JPd2Yi1u3DYc2ib0sCwZLB9Wepufz-UlUXemhQLMn_HjWzahzm5fYsHtXI3YecjD7l6bcYZrgdH_SihubVHRKj1dauW4FLKiFCpUaZZidyk90EYsfB3xVthFAv2jy6l0p-MSuN8nA&s=1"><span style="color: blue; text-decoration: none;">http://jeffco.us/bcc/about/</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="http://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fjeffco.us%2Fbcc%2Fabout%2Fdistrict-map%2F&h=OAQFV1QKMAQGYw_oFfHwcZY4h7PSeFXVPxbte98lYi-5_Uw&enc=AZPtOUXTKMJ690rcl_yuCKp6pHUg1GQ57E221G5SKmd5cW-5r_lz5jk_Lqy-AEpKMlV0shvEFf5EPTXKUw4yenlIP1SvQGRikUy6LVHMBQ642hzp9fZH3SCy59vWsPwIksRgyCrzSmbVLBylJUsXV6ezuLocvBX4FP9ktFfAV0o6xIm4mHEfe4PbX9irhbu8zOM&s=1"><span style="color: blue; text-decoration: none;">http://jeffco.us/bcc/about/district-map/</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">LIBBY SZABO - District 1 <a href="https://www.facebook.com/Libby-Szabo-281879707870/"><span style="color: blue; text-decoration: none;">https://www.facebook.com/Libby-Szabo-281879707870/</span></a> Website
Submittable Form <a href="http://libbyszabo.org/contact/"><span style="color: blue; text-decoration: none;">http://libbyszabo.org/contact/</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Libby Szabo for JeffCo * P.O. Box 746048 * Arvada CO 80006-6048 *
libby@libbyszabo.com * 720-260-4722<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">CASEY TIGHE - District 2 - <a href="https://www.facebook.com/tighe.casey"><span style="color: blue; text-decoration: none;">https://www.facebook.com/tighe.casey</span></a> *<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="http://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tigheforjeffco.org%2Fget-involved.html&h=5AQGbE-VLAQG_9bX-GZvRAmr3sgnStR4lrTda-he5tqJibg&enc=AZNPksNizeI0njq-u9m7FtFCuBuJRo7atX1fQg8yrIuLv8WMLTYywsirNMJ-mzophyjemgk0y57xS9MGOhfYc8252RAHx6WRcKEd6VkjrO3oLvoC7prbykIXVGrX4KyNsGP4xrdBG1spWdIEB3llGQFdY5Z7JER00s_7d7yHWfiL8zji-1JPG996D4u2CH0y19U&s=1"><span style="color: blue; text-decoration: none;">http://www.tigheforjeffco.org/get-involved.html</span></a> *
casey@tigheforjeffco.org * 720-443-0619 *Tigheforjeffco@comcast.net<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">DONALD ROSIER - District 3
- <a href="https://www.facebook.com/donrosier/"><span style="color: blue; text-decoration: none;">https://www.facebook.com/donrosier/</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;">
<span style="background: white; color: red; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">drosier@rosierforjeffco.com</span><span style="color: red; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">.</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 2;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">Thanks to Tara Lepore and Ashley Hall for bringing this matter to
my attention. Here is the Dinosaur Ridge website for those interested! <a href="http://www.dinoridge.org/"><span style="color: blue;">http://www.dinoridge.org/</span></a><b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01289636873010953032noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4071831961528467035.post-28634026371263936052016-12-29T22:09:00.000-08:002016-12-30T06:01:28.593-08:00The Fight for Paleontology in Bears Ears<h2>
The Fight for Paleontology in Bears Ears</h2>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As many of you may have seen, on December 28<sup>th</sup>, 2016, President Obama used the
authority assigned to him under the Antiquities Act of 1906 by Congress to
declare a Bears Ears National Monument. Now most of the public debate
surrounding this area has focused on the wealth of ancient sites, artifacts,
rock art, and tribal connections to the area. But the paleontological resources
of the area are also highly significant. I had been following with interest and then growing alarm as various advocacy groups began pushing for additional protection for various cultural and scenic resources in the area. State legislators were talking about a public lands "Grand Bargain." Tribal leaders and conservationists were talking about a national monument. No one was talking about the paleontological resources of the area. This was a great concern to me since that has been my field area for several years now and an area I have been involved in and around for well over a decade.</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8aoU0uY6wvg/WGXnLjLyTcI/AAAAAAAAOTA/L6gXV91bjaAe5fPCO_OtqC4TCIV5LXnKgCLcB/s1600/DSC_0014%2B%25282%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="211" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8aoU0uY6wvg/WGXnLjLyTcI/AAAAAAAAOTA/L6gXV91bjaAe5fPCO_OtqC4TCIV5LXnKgCLcB/s320/DSC_0014%2B%25282%2529.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Moonrise over Comb Ridge, where my work has focused for the last several years.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<o:p></o:p><br />
<h4>
Pushing for Paleontology</h4>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So I took action. I went down to Bluff in March 2016 to attend <a href="http://www.friendsofcedarmesa.org/" target="_blank">Friends of Cedar Mesa</a>'s Celebrate Cedar Mesa and agitate. I poked at people; organizers, legislators, BLM administrators, and conservationists. I made a general nuisance of myself and apparently it did some good. Though no Utah state or federal legislators ever got back to me, the folks involved with monument status began communicating about the fossils in the area. It started with simple descriptions of the paleo resources of the area. When I was asked to compile a bibliography of the same, though, that's when I think I opened lots of eyes. The bibliographic list of publications together ran for over 20 pages and left many mineral-geology resources off (as they were being dealt with elsewhere).</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-lzF4rjg2PDw/WGXnUZmG4tI/AAAAAAAAOTE/c5lCtBRCHB84AJae3hCHMxAejkT-4ulFgCLcB/s1600/20160305_141359%2B%25282%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="88" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-lzF4rjg2PDw/WGXnUZmG4tI/AAAAAAAAOTE/c5lCtBRCHB84AJae3hCHMxAejkT-4ulFgCLcB/s320/20160305_141359%2B%25282%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Looking west from Bluff at Celebrate Cedar Mesa 2016</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
That is when things accelerated. In April I was brought down to Bluff to talk to folks from FoCM and <a href="https://wilderness.org/" target="_blank">The Wilderness Society</a> about the importance of the area to paleontology and about the 300 million years of stories in the area, preserved in the rocks of the Bears Ears area. Some of this was eventually made into a video highlighting our personal connections to the area.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/hUNLdqb-J3k/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/hUNLdqb-J3k?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">The video of the personal and deep-time aspects of the area, produced by TWS.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Around this time I was also asked to draft language that would protect paleontology in a monument, should the president move forward with a monument. I would have been happy to have provided similar input to the PLI as well, but considering they barred non-San Juan County residents from participating in the Bears Ears portion it isn't surprising that they didn't contact me. A rumor also began circulating that Sally Jewell, the Secretary of the Interior, would be visiting the region over the summer. I sent her a message inviting her to our field camp at Comb Ridge. While the invitation was turned down, I did get a response from her scheduling secretary; encouraging.</div>
<h4>
</h4>
<h4>
Increased Advocacy</h4>
<div>
Over the summer the Secretary's travel plans firmed up and it became clear she would be visiting Bluff in July. I made the three hour trek down there and saw loads and loads of people. The line to get inside the community building in Bluff stretched back on itself multiple times in the heat and the organizers had set up an outside listening area. I patiently waited in line to get a number to speak. Despite arriving at (what I had assumed was) a decent time, I was unable to secure a seat inside. Instead I guzzled water outside with my friend Chris and listened to the first half hour of speakers come and go. The atmosphere was charged but no one was being too terribly rude. I got a text from an inside person and worked my way into the building where the atmosphere was more tense, more dense, but only slightly less hot than outside. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-E8kX8iCRiUw/WGXeHowb53I/AAAAAAAAOSo/fBmSQAduyI8QBVoGbwLEOCDX5PJNhiXKgCLcB/s1600/13734996_10100159607841732_1785687724545740406_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-E8kX8iCRiUw/WGXeHowb53I/AAAAAAAAOSo/fBmSQAduyI8QBVoGbwLEOCDX5PJNhiXKgCLcB/s320/13734996_10100159607841732_1785687724545740406_o.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">View inside the Bluff Community Center. Photo by ReBecca Hunt-Foster.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
<br />
My number wasn't drawn as the day drew near its end but then the Secretary announced that she would be extending the meeting on account of all the people still in attendance. While several people had to leave, including Chris, most of the folks stayed. The Community Center did not seem to empty out, though as people from outside filled in the spaces. As luck/fate/random chance of the draw would have it, my number was called. In fact it was the second-to-last number called to speak. Like the Hamilton song says, I wasn't going to throw away <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VK4Wk_8PbcI" target="_blank">my shot</a>. Many folks had pre-written speeches in hand when they approached the mic but not me. I had an outline in my head and key ideas to touch on; I got up there and spoke based on that. I would like to think my lack of notes in hand and ease with the subject I was discussing helped but I cannot be sure.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qdlxhzLaugw/WGXeH2pTkRI/AAAAAAAAOSw/e3KIlcoE8MEKovnaSEykLHzeNl4kwBingCLcB/s1600/13680346_1140338859319915_7832654003037829662_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qdlxhzLaugw/WGXeH2pTkRI/AAAAAAAAOSw/e3KIlcoE8MEKovnaSEykLHzeNl4kwBingCLcB/s320/13680346_1140338859319915_7832654003037829662_o.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Speaking to the panel in Bluff. Photo by David Rankin.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
After probably the most stressful two minutes of my career the meeting was essentially over. I helped pick up the best I could and chatted with folks from FoCM, TWS, the Utah legislature, and various friends before heading to a field camp just up the road. My conscience was clear at this point; I'd made my case to people who would make the decisions. I figured that my work was essentially done at this point.</div>
<h4>
</h4>
<h4>
Rob Goes to Washington</h4>
<div>
As the summer progressed the Bears Ears radar went quiet for the most part. In September, though, things began to pick back up. I was asked for updated information to provide to the Administration and to speak around Colorado. Again, all of this was coming from the monument advocacy side; the PLI crowd still had not been in contact with me, though they had consulted with (and apparently not taken the advice of) other geoscientists who had been active in the Bears Ears area. Also in September the idea was broached to me by Scott of TWS of going to Washington DC and presenting to the White House, the Department of the Interior, and the USDA/Forest Service about paleo in the Bears Ears area. After a fair bit of stop-and-start action, along with an intervening paleontology conference, I ended up visiting DC for the first time ever on Halloween.</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-GQ4C3ly-i64/WGXeHnGzW6I/AAAAAAAAOSs/v12-w5M5c8ci4KcBzaaOOodLbMpj6wlfQCLcB/s1600/14890407_10211347879681278_6200397342867594879_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-GQ4C3ly-i64/WGXeHnGzW6I/AAAAAAAAOSs/v12-w5M5c8ci4KcBzaaOOodLbMpj6wlfQCLcB/s320/14890407_10211347879681278_6200397342867594879_o.jpg" width="177" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yours truly standing inside the White House Council on Environmental Quality office.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Having never been to DC before this was sort of a double whammy. Here I was, seeing historic buildings, sites, monuments, cemeteries, and departments for the first time but also going into these "Halls of Power" to meet with folks and talk about the land and science that is essentially my consuming passion. People asked if I was nervous going into this part. I wasn't, not really. I know the science, the landscape, the geology, and the region like the back of my hand.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
In the meetings questions came up about the publication record of certain regions, the relative rarity of certain resources, why certain areas on our map (more on that in a later post) weren't identified as "high potential", and what work was currently happening in the region (along with many others). These are questions I was able to answer but was also happy to be asked; it meant that the people in these departments were taking paleontology seriously and had done their background reading. I left DC knowing that the folks I had talked to were energized about paleontology and hopeful that their enthusiasm and the new information from me would be transformed into paleontology being protected in any future proclamation. Scott from TWS was likewise hopeful.</div>
<h4 style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
</h4>
<h4 style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
The Final Days</h4>
<div>
After the election there was some serious concern among folks that despite all the legwork done by experts, advocates, and lawmakers on both sides of the issue that nothing would happen. Despite Rob Bishop et al. proclaiming that a Bears Ears National Monument would be a midnight monument, that the State of Utah would sue, etc., it was clear at the meeting (and from the amount of work that Bishop put in) that both sides of the issue wanted to see the area protected. There was frantic scrambling to make sure everything was in place should the President decide to act. In the midst of all this chaos some of my colleagues and I managed to put out <a href="https://peerj.com/preprints/2662/" target="_blank">a preprint on the first vertebrate traces from Comb Ridge, in the Bears Ears area</a>. Everything was poised and ready but no one was really sure it was going to happen until it did. I got a call from an advocate about half an hour before the White House made the announcement; even then I was on pins and needles. Would paleo actually be protected?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It is
with great relief that I read the <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2016/12/28/proclamation-establishment-bears-ears-national-monument" target="_blank">proclamation </a>and saw that paleontology
was explicitly called out and protected under the proclamation. Perhaps even more surprising (and gratifying) is that a large portion of the paleontology-specific text was mine. I had helped craft this. I had made a difference here. Before I got
involved in the process no one on either side of the issue had considered paleontology
in the region seriously. No matter what happens going forward we know that
paleontology in the region will be protected. By explicitly mentioning it in
the proclamation, the president has acknowledged that the resources are
significant not only to the area but to the country as a whole.</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
The paleontological resources in the Bears Ears area are among the richest and most significant in the United States, and protection of this area will provide important opportunities for further archaeological and paleontological study. Many sites, such as Arch Canyon, are teeming with fossils, and research conducted in the Bears Ears area is revealing new insights into the transition of vertebrate life from reptiles to mammals and from sea to land. Numerous ray-finned fish fossils from the Permian Period have been discovered, along with other late Paleozoic Era fossils, including giant amphibians, synapsid reptiles, and important plant fossils. Fossilized traces of marine and aquatic creatures such as clams, crayfish, fish, and aquatic reptiles have been found in Indian Creek's Chinle Formation, dating to the Triassic Period, and phytosaur and dinosaur fossils from the same period have been found along Comb Ridge. Paleontologists have identified new species of plant-eating crocodile-like reptiles and mass graves of lumbering sauropods, along with metoposaurus, crocodiles, and other dinosaur fossils. Fossilized trackways of early tetrapods can be seen in the Valley of the Gods and in Indian Creek, where paleontologists have also discovered exceptional examples of fossilized ferns, horsetails, and cycads. The Chinle Formation and the Wingate, Kayenta, and Navajo Formations above it provide one of the best continuous rock records of the Triassic-Jurassic transition in the world, crucial to understanding how dinosaurs dominated terrestrial ecosystems and how our mammalian ancestors evolved. In Pleistocene Epoch sediments, scientists have found traces of mammoths, short-faced bears, ground sloths, primates, and camels.</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
- Proclamation establishing Bears Ears National Monument, December 28th, 2016 </blockquote>
We are continuing our research in the area with two aggressive excavations scheduled for 2017 in the Bears Ears along with continuing high school field camp work, and I am glad that the administration was willing to listen to the concerns of scientists from around the country about this area and the importance of paleontology to understanding its history. Looking forward, this proclamation serves as a framework for future paleontological work in the region. Nearby Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument has similar language in its proclamation. This language has enabled a flowering of scientific research across the Grand Staircase. Virtually all of the new dinosaur species coming from that area (>95% of them) have been described since the Monument was declared and the wording of the proclamation has allowed that to happen. Horned dinosaurs, duck-billed dinosaurs, and young relatives of <i>Tyrannosaurus rex</i> have all been named in the last two decades. Hopefully, with paleontology being singled out and protected in Bears Ears National Monument, a similar explosion in our knowledge of the past will occur here.<br />
<div>
There is still work to be done. The fossil-rich areas in and around Red Canyon, currently being worked by colleagues from the Museum of Moab and Appalachian State University, were excluded from the Monument. Of course, with the new administration coming in there are other questions about funding for this and other public lands. We have our work cut out for us. I am mostly happy but I am not content and complacent. More blogs will be forthcoming on this topic too - both about Bears Ears paleo and the process of making a monument.<br />
<div>
I would like to extend my tremendous thanks to all of my friends and colleagues. Field crews from SGDS and NHMU, under Andrew Milner and Randy Irmis were vital to me getting started in paleo in the Bears Ears, as was a GeoCorps internship with the BLM's Canyon Country District in 2013. Canyonlands Natural History Association, the Museum of Northern Arizona, and the Museums of Western Colorado have also directly made my work in this area possible. Conservationists Josh Ewing, Amanda Podmore, and Scott Miller listened when I started poking things with a sharp stick and ranting about paleo in the area. Thank you to all the folks who listened to me at the meeting in July in Bluff as well as in the offices of DC. All my colleagues who signed my letter that I pestered you about; many thanks! It made a difference. Thank you also to Randy, Jeff, and Kenshu for all the hard work getting the SVP to send a letter talking about the importance of paleo, regardless of how (monument vs. NCA) it would be preserved. Special thanks go out to Julie McHugh, Brian Engh, Tara Lepore, May Blueotter, Xavier Jenkins, and all the people who have been part of our Comb Ridge field crews. Many special thanks especially go to Jen McCollough and Abby Landmeier for all their support during this whole process. Now, prepare for more Bears Ears blogs in the coming year!<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pdWFUDGTBE4/WGX48PQAYyI/AAAAAAAAOTU/sJ3jUHXcaF8ls09MYTWBUIhvN0TAShH5ACLcB/s1600/DSC_0071%2B%25282%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="263" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pdWFUDGTBE4/WGX48PQAYyI/AAAAAAAAOTU/sJ3jUHXcaF8ls09MYTWBUIhvN0TAShH5ACLcB/s400/DSC_0071%2B%25282%2529.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Portal to the Triassic in Bears Ears National Monument</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">Edited 12/30 to reflect more accurately how Bishop's PLI planning team interacted with other paleontologists.</span></i></div>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11914892485880621750noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4071831961528467035.post-75908733904839889882016-12-22T13:58:00.001-08:002016-12-22T20:22:35.912-08:00Ceratosaurus Part 2: What do we actually know about Ceratosaurus teeth?<div>
What you'll notice about both of these diagnoses, however, is that they contain little in the way of dental characters. Sure they both say the premaxilla only contains three teeth, but that is of little help if you are trying to ID isolated teeth. This brings me to the crux of this post in the first place</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
As I said in <a href="http://prehistoricpub.blogspot.com/2016/01/why-does-science-have-to-name-every.html" target="_blank">a previous post</a>, "Teeth attributed to <i>Ceratosaurus</i> do turn up in the field, however, and are usually distinguished by the presence of ridges near their bases."</div>
<div>
<br />
Madsen and Welles (2000) found "longitudinal grooves" in the anterior dentary teeth of <i>Ceratosaurus magnicornis</i> (this is not listed in their diagnosis. Another tooth character is though: "the teeth are longer and stouter."), and also cited "persistent parallel grooves on the medial surfaces of the premaxillary teeth and the anterior three teeth of the dentary," in the etymology for <i>C. dentisulcatus</i> (this morphology is not listed as an autapomorphy in their diagnosis - though "teeth more massive" is). Later in their publication, however, Madsen and Welles (p. 35) do state that, "lateral grooves are diagnostic of the premaxillary and anterior three teeth of the <i>Ceratosaurus</i> dentary," when discussing <i>Ceratosaurus</i> sp. from Tanzania. In the next paragraph they discuss "lingual grooves" as being characteristic of <i>Ceratosaurus</i>. They point out that these grooves are not diagnostic to the species level. There are two problems with this: there is now only one recognized species of <i>Ceratosaurus</i>, and the holotype lacks premaxillary and anterior dentary teeth.<br />
<br />
While Gilmore does use some dental-based characters, they are not tied to a specific tooth morphology and instead deal with the number of teeth in the various tooth-bearing bones.<br />
<br />
So what do we actually know about <i>Ceratosaurus</i> teeth?<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nSzaT38D9AU/VqADK_H91iI/AAAAAAAAEOg/Q1zHprIKzGw/s1600/Gilmore%2BPlate%2B17-1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="235" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nSzaT38D9AU/VqADK_H91iI/AAAAAAAAEOg/Q1zHprIKzGw/s400/Gilmore%2BPlate%2B17-1.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px;">Plate 17, Figure 1 from Gilmore (1920), showing the right side of the holotype of <i>Ceratosaurus</i><br />
<div>
<i><br /></i></div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-HTRzKjW0coo/Vp-lew1b_PI/AAAAAAAAEOQ/6zhy3wveO8M/s1600/Gilmore%2BPlate%2B17.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="291" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-HTRzKjW0coo/Vp-lew1b_PI/AAAAAAAAEOQ/6zhy3wveO8M/s400/Gilmore%2BPlate%2B17.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px;">Plate 17, Figure 2 from Gilmore (1920), showing the left side of the holotype of <i>Ceratosaurus</i><br />
<div>
</div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The holotype lacks the apparently diagnostic teeth of Madsen and Welles' <i>C. dentisulcatus. </i>As you can see from Gilmore, the left hand side of the skull features no anterior teeth. The right side is equally bleak when it comes to anterior dentition. So we are now faced with a tooth morphology that may be diagnostic (but not used in a formal diagnosis) of a junior synonym that cannot be directly be compared with the holotype.<br />
<br />
Continuing to muddy (or clarify?) the waters is <i>C. </i>?<i>meriani</i>, from the Late Jurassic of Switzerland. Madsen and Welles (2000) figure it and refer it to <i>Ceratosaurus sp.</i>, and Mickey Mortimer over at the <a href="http://theropoddatabase.com/Ceratosauria.htm#Ceratosaurusnasicornis" target="_blank">Theropod Database</a> says, "<span style="background-color: white;">It differs from </span><i style="background-color: white;">Genyodectes</i><span style="background-color: white;"> and </span><i style="background-color: white;">Ostafrikosaurus</i><span style="background-color: white;"> in lacking mesial serrations. As it is of identical size and found in temporally equivalent beds, I believe it should be called </span><i style="background-color: white;">Ceratosaurus meriani.</i><span style="background-color: white;">" Well there are other teeth from the Late Jurassic that have fluting and lack mesial serrations. Specifically some teeth referred to <i>Ceratosaurus</i> from the Morrison Formation of the American West. But why are they referred to <i>Ceratosaurus</i>? It is the right size and shape and comes from the right aged beds...but that's usually not good enough to assign to a highly exclusive clade.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white;">So let's sum up what we can say about the teeth of <i>Ceratosaurus</i> (and please chime in if I've goofed somewhere):</span><br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><i>Ceratosaurus nasicornis</i> has no known premaxillary or anterior dentary teeth</li>
<li><i>C. magnicornis</i> has both premaxillaries preserved but, again, no teeth preserved <i>in situ</i>. It also lacks a dentary</li>
<li><i>C. dentisulcatus</i> preserves both an toothed premaxilla and dentary with the lingual surfaces of the premaxillary and anterior dentary teeth preserving apicobasal grooves.</li>
<li><i>C ?meriani</i> lacks mesial serrations and appears to preserve apicobasal fluting</li>
<li><i>C. "stechowi"</i> from Tendaguru has apicobasal fluting</li>
<li><i>C. "sulcatus</i>" from Como Bluff, Wyoming preserves apicobasal fluting</li>
<li>Several teeth from the Mygatt-Moore Quarry have been referred to <i>Ceratosaurus</i> on the basis of apicobasal fluting.</li>
</ul>
<div>
So it seems that people are treating these apicobasal flutes (and in some cases the lack of mesial serrations) as diagnostic to <i>Ceratosaurus</i>. But apicobasal flutes are known in more taxa than just <i>Ceratosaurus</i>; several Triassic archosauriform tooth morphotypes possess them, as do temnospondyls, some phytosaurs, some early Jurassic dinosaurs (WFtP), spinosaurs, crocs, and gators. That's just tetrapods; I haven't wanted to dive deep into what sort of crazy dentition fish might have. As I understand it (though I don't have any sources right next to me at the moment) this adaptation would be useful for resisting strain on the tooth; basically the animal was punching through tough, wriggling stuff with its face. Understandable then that many things that eat tough prey would have this sort of adaptation.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Where does that leave us with <i>Ceratosaurus</i>? Well it leaves us with the possibility (not the certainty) that <i>Ceratosaurus</i> had apicobasal fluting on its anterior teeth. Certainly specimens with non-dental remains seem to suggest at least one species referred to <i>Ceratosaurus</i> previously had these flutes. I would urge caution, however, in assigning all Late Jurassic stout, fluted theropod teeth to <i>Ceratosaurus</i>. First off, the holotype doesn't have them, so the referral is based on previously referred specimens. That sort of secondary referral is done relatively frequently but it should give one cause for consideration. The second point is that we really don't have a good idea of the dental variation in other Late Jurassic theropods. We know the teeth of <i>Allosaurus</i> fairly well, but what can we say of the tooth structure at all major tooth positions in <i>Torvosaurus</i>, for example (especially considering derived megalosaurs, the spinosaurs, developed fluted tooth crowns as well)? Do we really know what the teeth were like in some of the mid-sized Morrison taxa as well? Since most aren't represented by good cranial remains we don't know what tooth variation is out there.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
In closing, we can say that it is likely <i>Ceratosaurus</i> had fluted front teeth but because of problems with the type specimen and the plesiomorphic nature of dental fluting, the rampant homoplasy in tetrapod dentition in general, and the lack of information about other Morrison theropods' teeth it is unwise to assign isolated fluted teeth to <i>Ceratosaurus</i> at all. Hopefully descriptions of other <i>Ceratosaurus</i> specimens with preserved anterior teeth along with a better understanding of Morrison theropod tooth diversity will lead to more accurate diagnoses of these fluted theropod teeth.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h4>
Minor aside</h4>
<div>
Life happens. I've been off the blog game for almost the whole year but I am hoping to be back at it through 2017, especially in terms of blogging about our next publications we have coming out. I've also brought a couple amigos on board here at the Prehistoric Pub so we plan on at least not letting you all down too much this next year. Onward to the next paleo discovery!</div>
<h3>
Works Cited</h3>
<div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white;">Gilmore, Charles W. 1920. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #535353;">"</span><a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=V9xbt1zrDfcC&dq=ceratosaurus&lr=&source=gbs_navlinks_s" style="background-color: white; color: #ae7400; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Osteology of the carnivorous Dinosauria in the United States National Museum, with special reference to the genera <i>Antrodemus</i> (<i>Allosaurus</i>) and <i>Ceratosaurus</i></a><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #535353;">."</span> </span><i style="background-color: white;">Bulletin of the United States National Museum</i><span style="background-color: white;"> 110: 1–154.</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #535353; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
Madsen, James H.; Welles, Samuel P. 2000. "<i>Ceratosaurus</i> (Dinosauria, Theropoda) a revised osteology." Utah Geological Survey Miscellaneous Publication 00-2. pp. 80</div>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11914892485880621750noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4071831961528467035.post-25190164142504778922016-12-21T11:23:00.000-08:002016-12-22T09:01:08.805-08:00Introducing your new bartender, Xavier Jenkins!Hi, all!<br />
I'm new to prehistoric pub, and blogging in general. I figured that I'd introduce myself so you all can get to know me!<br />
<br />
I'm Xavier Jenkins and I am a Freshman in Biological Sciences at Arizona State University. Throughout my entire life I've aspired to become a paleontologist, and in summer of 2015 I went on my first dig with paleontologist (and fellow blogger) Robert J. Gay.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mkgvgfbqf-E/WD-jKsNMIoI/AAAAAAAAAJo/fQH_U0Kwdt4CBKc-3c0-mzGvu99QlCMowCLcB/s1600/Dream%2BTeam.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mkgvgfbqf-E/WD-jKsNMIoI/AAAAAAAAAJo/fQH_U0Kwdt4CBKc-3c0-mzGvu99QlCMowCLcB/s320/Dream%2BTeam.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="color: #999999; font-size: x-small;">The Triassic Dream Team. Rob Gay, Tara Lepore, and I (Bottom right)</span><br />
My research has been focused on the paleoecology of the Chinle Formation of Utah, and I'll dig up anything I can there. Particularly, I want to get a better grasp on how these prehistoric monsters interacted with each-other, and I want to fully comprehend what this ancient environment looked like by employing methods such as screen washing to ensure that no fossil is left behind.<br />
<br />
I am working on five or so projects relating to this research, including the description of new taxon and a mass mortality bone bed. I never thought I'd say this, but I've learned to love microfossils and I hope to be studying them for my professional career. Last summer, I worked as a Field Assistant at Comb Ridge and Fry Canyon with Robert Gay. Overall, I'm super excited to see what our research reveals! Every trip has revealed more and more, and now we got our self a bone-bed!<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MSsNJhe_Nv4/WD-k6XXHJbI/AAAAAAAAAJ0/vVSSXoBelBMzZcktPQ659r8KqBK789uZgCLcB/s1600/Figure%2B4.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MSsNJhe_Nv4/WD-k6XXHJbI/AAAAAAAAAJ0/vVSSXoBelBMzZcktPQ659r8KqBK789uZgCLcB/s320/Figure%2B4.png" width="184" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"> <span style="color: #999999;"><span style="background-color: white;">New taxon in the works. Look at those serrations! Scale=1 mm. Image is from <a href="https://figshare.com/articles/A_new_diverse_microvertebrate_locality_from_the_Lower_Chinle_Formation_of_southeastern_Utah_USA_/4213602" target="_blank">Gay et al. 2016</a>. </span></span></span><br />
In addition to doing research in the Chinle of Utah, I am working in an Ecology lab at Arizona State University, where I am studying the trophic levels of desert streams and the fish and invertebrates within. When I'm not procrastinating to study for my latest test I am either hanging out with my fiance, Madison, or I am playing Town of Salem with my friends and colleagues, Rob Gay and Nathan Van Vranken. I look forward to updating you all on our research, and I'll do my best to keep you entertained! <a href="https://peerj.com/preprints/2662/" target="_blank">Here's a link to our crew's latest preprint!</a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01289636873010953032noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4071831961528467035.post-39133097529917597302016-01-27T13:00:00.000-08:002016-01-28T08:01:26.507-08:00Ceratosaurus Part 1: The history of a predatory horned dinosaur.<b>Disclaimer</b>: I promised you all a post about the teeth of <i>Ceratosaurus</i>. This is not that post. In reviewing the history of <i>Ceratosaurus</i> I found the post growing with background knowledge but no discussion of teeth. It make sense; there is backstory here dating back to Marsh in the 1880s! So I have decided to break this into two posts. The first post, this one, covers the history of <i>Ceratosaurus</i> research. The next post, out soon, will cover just the dental aspects of this charismatic animal.<br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Ceratosaurus</i>, the "horned lizard," was cool beast, no doubt about it! Here we have a theropod with huge fangs that was over 20 feet long, and had bone studded armor along its back! And that is to say nothing about those flamboyant crests on its face; one sits above its nose and another one above each of its eye. It was initially described by Marsh back in 1884 and is relatively well known thanks to a number of specimens from across the American West, mainly in Colorado and east-central Utah. There are large animals, presumed to be adults, and smaller individuals (presumably juveniles) in our sample as well, so we should theoretically have a good grasp on what this animal was like. Let's take a look at the history of <i>Ceratosaurus</i>, starting after Marsh's initial publication.<br />
<br />
Gilmore in 1920 redescribed Marsh's animal (thankfully!) and revised the diagnosis for <i>Ceratosaurus</i>. I have quoted him in full below.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Generic characters: Premaxillaries with three teeth; maxillaries with 15 teeth; dentary with 15 teeth; 9 cervical vertebrae plano-concave; dorsal vertebrae biconcave; 5 sacrals; distal caudals without special lengthening of prezygapophyses; pelvis coossified; pubis with closed obturator foramen; 4 digits in manus, first and fourth reduced; probably 3 digits in pes; dermal ossifications; abdominal ribs present.</blockquote>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nSzaT38D9AU/VqADK_H91iI/AAAAAAAAEOg/Q1zHprIKzGw/s1600/Gilmore%2BPlate%2B17-1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="235" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nSzaT38D9AU/VqADK_H91iI/AAAAAAAAEOg/Q1zHprIKzGw/s400/Gilmore%2BPlate%2B17-1.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px;">Plate 17, Figure 1 from Gilmore (1920), showing the right side of the holotype of <i>Ceratosaurus</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-HTRzKjW0coo/Vp-lew1b_PI/AAAAAAAAEOQ/6zhy3wveO8M/s1600/Gilmore%2BPlate%2B17.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="291" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-HTRzKjW0coo/Vp-lew1b_PI/AAAAAAAAEOQ/6zhy3wveO8M/s400/Gilmore%2BPlate%2B17.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px;">Plate 17, Figure 2 from Gilmore (1920), showing the left side of the holotype of <i>Ceratosaurus</i><br />
<div>
<i><br /></i></div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
This is a workable definition for the time but we know that some of these are not autapomorphies (things found only in one type of organism). In fact, some of these characters are ancestral for theropods, or even archosaurs. Still, we can't fault Gilmore. He was working with what comparative material he had at the time and did an excellent job. Perhaps most outstanding, even compared to papers being published in the 21st century, are his excellent illustrations of the material he is describing.<br />
<br />
That same year (1920), Werner von Janensch published on several theropods recovered by German expeditions to the Tendaguru beds. The most famous of these is probably <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elaphrosaurus" target="_blank">Elaphrosaurus bambergi</a></i>, a medium sized ceratosaur subject to much speculation in the decades since. In this same publication Janensch commented on the presence of <i>Allosaurus,</i> which he later named <i>Allosaurus tendagurensis</i> (Janensch, 1925), though this has been suggested to be a carcharodontosaurid. Additionally, and relevant to the post here, he identified <i>Ceratosaurus</i> (?) <i>sp., Megalosaurus </i>(?)<i> ingens,</i> and <i>Labrosaurus stechowi</i> from the same beds.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JNeGlN4sktE/VqgR6ulwlQI/AAAAAAAAEV0/dzt3f-pA0mY/s1600/GOPR0162.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JNeGlN4sktE/VqgR6ulwlQI/AAAAAAAAEV0/dzt3f-pA0mY/s320/GOPR0162.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The butt of <i>Elaphrosaurus</i> on display in Berlin during the 2014 SVP meeting.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-WSbB4PS3NeM/VqgR6d9HQxI/AAAAAAAAEVw/kLPojIGPVXQ/s1600/GOPR0164.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-WSbB4PS3NeM/VqgR6d9HQxI/AAAAAAAAEVw/kLPojIGPVXQ/s320/GOPR0164.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ftqXW0Q1Hts/VqgR6ch35CI/AAAAAAAAEV4/xF7CHcf-ids/s1600/GOPR0165.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ftqXW0Q1Hts/VqgR6ch35CI/AAAAAAAAEV4/xF7CHcf-ids/s320/GOPR0165.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tibia, teeth, and dorsal vertebra of "<i>Allosaurus tendagurensis</i>", also on display in Berlin. Whatever it was, it was big.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Janensch didn't illustrate his <i>Ceratosaurus sp.</i>, which was based on three dorsal vertebrae, but he did illustrate his "<i>Megalosaurus" ingens</i> and "<i>Labrosaurus" stechowi</i>. These will be relevant to our discussion on the teeth of <i>Ceratosaurus</i>.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GCuMy_x1-Rw/VqgTC2JgktI/AAAAAAAAEWQ/vEtvpspPzYw/s1600/Janensch%2BFigure%2B6.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GCuMy_x1-Rw/VqgTC2JgktI/AAAAAAAAEWQ/vEtvpspPzYw/s320/Janensch%2BFigure%2B6.png" width="109" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Figure 6 from Janensch (1920) with the tooth of <i>Megalosaurus </i>(=?<i>Ceratosaurus</i>)<i> ingens</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-J8FTnEPWqp8/VqgTC7o3W-I/AAAAAAAAEWM/WivEySVed8E/s1600/Janensch%2BFigures%2B7-8.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="108" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-J8FTnEPWqp8/VqgTC7o3W-I/AAAAAAAAEWM/WivEySVed8E/s320/Janensch%2BFigures%2B7-8.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Figures 7 & 8 from Janensch (1920) with a ?labial and basal view of the tooth of <i>Labrosaurus stechowi</i> (=?<i>Ceratosaurus sp.</i>)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Work continued sporadically on the genus. In 1963 Jim Madsen and William Stokes presented at the Geological Society of America meeting in Provo about new material from the Cleveland-Lloyd Quarry in central Utah. It was obvious that there was more to this animal than had been previously described. The last (so far) phase in new <i>Ceratosaurus</i> species came in 2000 when Madsen and Sam Welles named two new species: <i>C. magnicornis</i> and <i>C. dentisulcatus</i>. <i>C. magnicornis</i> was so-named from its large nasal horn, while <i>C. dentisulcatus</i> derives its specific name from grooves Madsen and Welles saw on the premaxillary and anterior dentary teeth; this taxon included the remains initially described in that 1963 abstract, while <i>C. magnicornis</i> was named from remains found in western Colorado.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eS2LvB5UO14/VqVqmglIlYI/AAAAAAAAEVU/uYz4zgBDdHM/s1600/20160120_141224.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eS2LvB5UO14/VqVqmglIlYI/AAAAAAAAEVU/uYz4zgBDdHM/s400/20160120_141224.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Your faithful author with part of the holotype of <i>Ceratosaurus magnicornis</i> at Dinosaur Journey in Fruita, Colorado</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
In addition to coining two new species, Madsen and Welles looked over the material that had previously been assigned to the genus by other workers, including the material from Tendaguru. This was the most comprehensive review of all the material assigned to <i>Ceratosaurus</i> to date. Here's a summary of their findings.<br />
<ul>
<li><i>Ceratosaurus roechlingi</i> (Janensch 1925) may be a very large <i>Ceratosaurus</i> but isn't diagnostic past <i>Ceratosaurus sp.</i></li>
<li><i>Labrosaurus stechowi</i> is likely a junior synonym of <i>C. roechlingi</i></li>
<li>The <i>Ceratosaurus</i> vertebrae that Janensch (1920) identified as <i>Ceratosaurus sp.</i> are correctly IDed</li>
<li><i>Labrosaurus meriani</i> (Janensch 1920), based on an isolated fluted tooth from the Bern Jura, in Switzerland is referred to <i>Ceratosaurus sp.</i></li>
<li>Bones previously referred to <i>Ceratosaurus</i> from Oklahoma (Stovall, 1938) are indeterminate theropod bones at best</li>
<li><i>Ceratosaurus sp.</i> teeth from western Colorado are in fact correctly IDed</li>
<li>Material collected by BYU at Dry Mesa, Colorado and Agate Basin, Wyoming, will be described soon and represent the largest known specimen of <i>Ceratosaurus</i>. As of 1999 the preparation of this specimen was complete.</li>
<li><i>Megalosaurus ingens</i>, sometimes referred to as <i>Ceratosaurus ingens</i> (Rowe and Gauthier, 1990), is too big to be <i>Ceratosaurus</i></li>
<li><i>Labrosaurus sulcatus</i>, based on an isolated fluted tooth from the Morrison Formation of Colorado, is referred to <i>Ceratosaurus sp.</i></li>
</ul>
Now some of these conclusions have held up while others have not been mentioned since 2000. Later workers, for example, don't discuss any non-North American <i>Ceratosaurus sp.</i> remains. There is probably a good reason for this; I will go into more detail about that on my next post. Other claims are somewhat odd (a junior synonym of a newer taxon that isn't diagnostic?). Even today, however, Madsen and Welles (2000) is the best review of all material historically assigned to <i>Ceratosaurus</i>.<br />
<b><br /></b>
2000 was a busy year for <i>Ceratosaurus</i> research. That year Brooks Britt and colleagues presented about new specimens of <i>Ceratosaurus</i> from Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming at the Society of Vertebrate Paleontologists annual meeting; this likely includes the material that Madsen and Welles referenced in their publication as being held at BYU. While some of this information has made its way into later publications, for the most part these specimens remain undescribed to my knowledge.<br />
<br />
As paleontology is an evolving science, new analytical tools are always being developed. The same year that Madsen and Welles revised our view of <i>Ceratosaurus</i> and Britt et al. clued us in to new specimens from Wyoming, Oliver Rauhut used modern phylogenetic techniques to define <i>Ceratosaurus</i> as part of his Ph.D. thesis. His found the following autapomorphies (taken from Rauhut (2000) by way of Wikipedia, since I don't have access to the original thesis).<br />
<ul>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">a narrow rounded horn core centrally placed on the fused nasals</li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">a median oval groove on nasals behind horn core</li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">a premaxilla with three teeth</li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">premaxillary teeth with reduced extent of mesial serrations</li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">chevrons that are extremely long</li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">a pubis with a large, rounded notch underneath the obturator foramen</li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">small epaxial osteoderms</li>
</ul>
<br />
<div>
Some of these characters still look good 16 years later, but some of them are a bit subjective, such as, "chevrons that are extremely long." This may be due to someone simplifying what Rauhut said for Wikipedia or it may reflect the long-term trend away from relative character states. Without having Rauhut's thesis I can't really say either way.</div>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-eKVWyxgNx2M/VqkYA8hb-VI/AAAAAAAAEW8/6PZAQIRkcf0/s1600/Ceratosaurus_nasicornis_DB.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="146" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-eKVWyxgNx2M/VqkYA8hb-VI/AAAAAAAAEW8/6PZAQIRkcf0/s400/Ceratosaurus_nasicornis_DB.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Breaking up this wall of text with a <i>Ceratosaurus</i> illustration. Image by DiBgd at English Wikipedia, CC BY 2.5</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Rauhut (2000) wasn't the last word on the question of, "What is <i>Ceratosaurus</i>?" In 2008, Matt Carrano and Scott Sampson published a revised phylogentic analysis of the ceratosaurs. Since <i>Ceratosaurus</i> is kind of essential to understand if you're talking about a group of animals sharing its name, they came up with another revised diagnosis.<br />
<div>
<div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Ceratosaur with: (1) mediolaterally narrow,
rounded midline horn core on the fused nasals, (2) medial
oval groove on nasals behind horn core, (3) pubis with large,
rounded notch underneath the obturator foramen, (4) small
median dorsal osteoderms</blockquote>
As time passes you can see that the subjective characters have disappeared, such as the extremely long chevrons. Others characters are now better defined. We've arrived at what is essentially the definition we are using today in 2016 when we want to refer material to <i>Ceratosaurus</i>. Of course you may notice that this list is pretty small, meaning that most of the skeleton can't be used to identify individual bones. Carrano and Sampson (2008) do a couple of other interesting things in regards to the history of <i>Ceratosaurus</i>; they restrict the use of <i>Ceratosaurus</i> to North America (though without discussing the African material), and explain how the Madsen and Welles (2000) taxa are junior synonyms with no unambiguous autapomorphies. So from this point onward it is generally accepted that only one species of <i>Ceratosaurus</i> is valid, <i>C. nasicornis</i>, and that the genus <i>Ceratosaurus</i> is found only in the Morrison Formation of western North America, a point that Carrano et al. (2012) reiterate.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-A0O4W-W6DyE/VqkTSZQKoYI/AAAAAAAAEWk/PcMVDl0y2Lc/s1600/Ceratosaurus_nasicornis_%2528partial_fossil%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="223" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-A0O4W-W6DyE/VqkTSZQKoYI/AAAAAAAAEWk/PcMVDl0y2Lc/s400/Ceratosaurus_nasicornis_%2528partial_fossil%2529.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption">Juvenile <i>Ceratosaurus</i> partial skeleton on display at the North American Museum of Ancient Life. Photo by Zach Tirrell, CC BY-SA 2.0</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Last, and most late-breaking, is a paper out today in JVP! In this paper Carrano and Choiniere discuss the arm of the holotype of <i>Ceratosaurus</i> from the US National Museum. The paper stays true to its subject and redescribes the arm, something the entire skeleton is in need of, as it has undergone de-mounting and additional preparation work. They found that, as many have suspected, the hand and arm of <i>Ceratosaurus</i> is most similar to those of early theropod dinosaurs like <a href="http://blogs.plos.org/paleocomm/2015/10/22/318/" style="font-style: italic;" target="_blank">Dilophosaurus</a>, and not as closely aligned with later theropods. Even from its fellow derived ceratosaurs, the Abelisauroidea, the hand and arm appear primitive - which would make sense considering its placement relative to abelisauroids in the theropod family tree. Carrano and Choiniere (2016) also show that <i>Ceratosaurus</i> didn't have a useless hand either. Although small and oddly shaped compared to contemporaneous <i>Allosaurus</i>, the hand of <i>Ceratosaurus</i> was still adapted to grasp items (though not to the same extent as other theropods). The lack of any preserved claws from across the Morrison associated with <i>Ceratosaurus</i> skeletons makes things even more difficult; was <i>Ceratosaurus</i> tiny-clawed, grabbing small prey items? Or did it have huge grappling-hook slashers, ready to grab on to passing sauropods? We just don't know.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9B9I0SZsj4g/VqkWRqmXoZI/AAAAAAAAEWw/KmmZWjuzTmI/s1600/Ceratosaurus_nasicornis_AMNH_27631_hand_cast.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="230" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9B9I0SZsj4g/VqkWRqmXoZI/AAAAAAAAEWw/KmmZWjuzTmI/s400/Ceratosaurus_nasicornis_AMNH_27631_hand_cast.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cast of the hand of the holotype of <i>Ceratosaurus nasicornis</i>. Note the lack of any preserved fingers. Photo by Smokeybjb, CC BY-SA 3.0</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
In conclusion, how can we sum up what we know of <i>Ceratosaurus</i>? Well there appears to be one wide-spread but relatively uncommon (compared to <i>Allosaurus</i>) species of <i>Ceratosaurus</i> that existed in western North America during the Late Jurassic. Variation that has led to different species in the Morrison Formation being named, such as <i>Ceratosaurus magnicornis</i> and <i>Ceratosaurus dentisulcatus</i> are best explained by individual variation and changes associated with the animal's growth. Other examples of <i>Ceratosaurus</i> may exist outside of North America but those specimens have not been rigorously examined since 2000. Numerous teeth from across western North America, Europe, and Africa have been referred to this animal, but most workers view the non-North American specimens as not part of the <i>Ceratosaurus</i> hypodigm. Are these referrals sound? For that, you'll have to wait until my next post!<br />
<br /></div>
<div>
<h3>
Works Cited</h3>
Britt, Brooks, Chure, D. J., Holtz, T. R., Jr., Miles, C. A. & Stadtman, K. L. 2000. A reanalysis of the phylogenetic affinities of <i>Ceratosaurus </i>(Theropoda, Dinosauria) based on new specimens from Utah, Colorado, and Wyoming. <i>Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology</i> 20: 32A<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
Carrano, Matthew T., Roger BJ Benson, and Scott D. Sampson. 2012. "The phylogeny of Tetanurae (Dinosauria: Theropoda)." <i>Journal of Systematic Palaeontology</i> 10.2: 211-300<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Carrano, Matthew T. & Jonah Choiniere 2016. New information on the forearm and manus of <i>Ceratosaurus nasicornis</i> Marsh, 1884 (Dinosauria, Theropoda), with implications for theropod forelimb evolution. <i>Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology</i></div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
Carrano, Matthew T., and Scott D. Sampson. 2008. "The phylogeny of Ceratosauria (Dinosauria: Theropoda)." <i>Journal of Systematic Palaeontology</i> 6.02: 183-236.<br />
<div>
<br />
Gilmore, Charles W. 1920. <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=V9xbt1zrDfcC&dq=ceratosaurus&lr=&source=gbs_navlinks_s" target="_blank">Osteology of the carnivorous Dinosauria in the United States National Museum, with special reference to the genera <i>Antrodemus</i> (<i>Allosaurus</i>) and <i>Ceratosaurus</i></a>. <i>Bulletin of the United States National Museum</i> 110: 1–154.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
Janensch, Werner. "<a href="http://doc.rero.ch/record/232945/files/PAL_E4547.pdf" target="_blank">Über <i>Elaphrosaurus bambergi</i> und die megalosaurier aus den Tendaguru-Schichten Deutsch-Ostafrikas.</a>" <i>Sitzungsberichte der Gesellschaft naturforschender Freunde zu Berlin</i> 8 (1920): 226-235.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
Janensch, Werner. 1925. "Die Coelurosaurier und Theropoden der Tendaguru-Schichten Deutsch-Ostafrikas". <i>Palaeontographica</i>, Supplement 7 1: 1–99.<br />
<div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px;"><br /></span></div>
Madsen, Jim H. Jr., and Stokes, William L., 1963, New information on the Jurassic dinosaur <i>Ceratosaurus</i>: Geological Society of America, Special Paper 73, p. 90 (abs.)<br />
<div>
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px;"><br /></span></span>
<br />
<div>
<span style="font-weight: normal;">Madsen, Jim H.; Welles, Samuel P. 2000. <i>Ceratosaurus </i>(Dinosauria, Theropoda): A Revised Osteology. Utah Geological Survey. pp. 1–80.</span><br />
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span>
Marsh, O.C. 1884. "Principal characters of American Jurassic dinosaurs, part VIII: The order Theropoda" <i>American Journal of Science</i> 27(160): 329–340<span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span>Rauhut, Oliver. 2000. The interrelationships and evolution of basal theropods (Dinosauria, Saurischia). Ph.D. dissertation, Univ. Bristol [U.K.]. 440 pp<br />
<br />
Rauhut, Oliver W. M. 2011. "Theropod dinosaurs from the Late Jurassic of Tendaguru (Tanzania)". <i>Special Papers in Palaeontology</i> 86: 195–239.<br />
<br />
Rowe, T., and Jacques Gauthier. 1990. "Ceratosauria." <i>in</i> The Dinosauria, Weishampel, Dodson, and Osmólska, eds. University of California Press. pp. 151-168.<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16.12px;"><br /></span>
Stovall, J. Willis. 1938. "The Morrison of Oklahoma and its dinosaurs." <i>The Journal of Geology</i>: 583-600.</div>
</div>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11914892485880621750noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4071831961528467035.post-74399196305016633402016-01-20T06:42:00.000-08:002016-01-20T06:42:53.536-08:00"Why does science have to name every little thing?"One of the most common questions I got when I was teaching as some variation on that theme. "Why do scientists have to make things so complicated?" "Why can't they just call it something simple?" It is a question bigger than just high school level as well; one of the barriers to effective science communication and education seems to be the general "fear" of overly technical language . The general public seems to view scientists as speaking in convoluted and complex terms.<br />
<br />
It is true that scientists have devised some very complex ways of describing things that might seem simple to a layman. And sometimes we can get wrapped up in using the terms we are familiar with when talking about our research, to the detriment of any non-technical audience. The media is also partially to blame as well, with perpetuating ideas such as all prehistoric reptiles are dinosaurs. But why do these terms exist in the first place?<br />
<br />
This brings me to Hendrickx et al. (2015). Hendrickx and his coauthors published a paper last year breaking down theropod dinosaur teeth and analyzing many different aspects of their morphology. In addition, the authors created a standardized terminology for future paleontologists to use when describing their dinosaur teeth. Hendrickx and his coauthors explain why creating such a terminology is needed succinctly; in effect answering the question of why scientists create names for so many things.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">...several pivotal theropod taxa with well-preserved dentitions still lack a thorough dental description...leading numerous authors to identify isolated theropod teeth to broad clades with uncertainty...isolated teeth are key pieces of evidence to assess vertebrate paleoecological diversity and are often used for stable isotopic studies with various applications...A better understanding of theropod anatomy and morphological variation is therefore central to help resolving systematic relationships and to provide paleoecological clues. Tooth morphology is tied to diet, which has extensive evolutionary repercussions, such as morphological convergence, more than other parts of the skeleton. Yet, theropod teeth have been shown to possess many diagnostic features of taxonomic value...Although theropod teeth seem simple at first sight, this is effectively a result of the absence of comprehensive studies on tooth anatomy and morphological variation among theropods, as well as the lack of a uniform anatomical nomenclature.</span></blockquote>
What does the wall of text mean? Basically, theropod dinosaur teeth can be used to study evolutionary relationships, paleoecology, and several other important things in paleontology, but no one has bothered to come up with a good way to talk about them.<br />
<br />
That's the crux of scientific terminology; coming up with a good way to talk about things. Good, in this case, means usable. Terms should describe well-defined parts of an organism's anatomy. If we say, "the tip of the tooth," on a tooth that has multiple "tips", how are we to know which specific tip we're talking about? Are there differences between "wrinkles" and "grooves?"<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-90LOlc6iDic/VpaHRDvCtEI/AAAAAAAAEEQ/LH5oycyYdmw/s1600/Hendrickx%2Bet%2Bal%2B2015%2Bfig%2B1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="221" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-90LOlc6iDic/VpaHRDvCtEI/AAAAAAAAEEQ/LH5oycyYdmw/s400/Hendrickx%2Bet%2Bal%2B2015%2Bfig%2B1.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Figure 1 from Hendrickx et al., 2015</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Without understanding the distinctions between subtle anatomical differences in different taxa, how are we to find out if these features are actually taxonomically important? A quick example from the Morrison Formation. Here in western Colorado we have basically two relatively common large theropods from the Morrison: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allosaurus" target="_blank"><i>Allosaurus</i> </a>and <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceratosaurus" target="_blank">Ceratosaurus</a></i>. Skeletal remains of <i>Allosaurus</i>, including teeth, seem to dominate in the Morrison making up 3/4 of all the theropod remains (Foster, 2007). Teeth attributed to <i>Ceratosaurus</i> do turn up in the field, however, and are usually distinguished by the presence of ridges near their bases. Now that we have Hendrickx et al.'s paper, we can go into a bit more depth. We can say, for instance, that the teeth attributed to <i>Ceratosaurus</i> have basal fluting, and these flutes are not seen in the contemporaneous <i>Allosaurus</i>. So this may help us distinguish between these teeth in the field <b>and</b> keeps us from mistaking <i>Ceratosaurus</i> teeth (with their flutes) with wrinkled or ornamented teeth (or tooth fragments).<br />
<br />
The description of <i>Ceratosaurus</i> teeth by previous authors, however, has been lacking in detail and confusing, often using different terms for the same anatomical feature. As Hendrickx et al. note, having their framework in place will help facilitate such a description and they specifically mention <i>Ceratosaurus</i> as being in need of such a redescription. Hopefully such a project will be forthcoming. This topic will also be the focus of my next blog post!<br />
<br />
Going forward I am hoping to see a theropod-wide tooth catalog. While Hendrickx et al. do point out that teeth are quick to change, evolutionarily speaking, to changes in diet and feeding behavior, they also note the taxonomic utility of teeth. While many theropod teeth can't be narrowed down to a genus or species, being able to address higher-level taxonomic questions with teeth is important. In addition, some taxa appear to have diagnostic dental modifications. Doing systematic studies and descriptions of theropod teeth may yield more information on what characters are taxonomically useful and potentially add autapomorphies to established genera.<br />
<br />
My biggest complaint is that the authors did not examine what a theropod tooth <i style="font-weight: bold;">is</i>. They identify problems with past work, the utility of teeth, and the need for a framework but there is no way to determine if this framework is applicable to a given tooth. Obviously for teeth attached to theropod jaws this isn't a problem, but the majority of the dental fossil record for archosaurs consists of isolated shed teeth. While workers in the Cretaceous and Jurassic strata have this problem to a lesser degree (though it is possible that some crocodylomorphs developed similar tooth morphologies), those of us working in the Triassic are confronted with a host of dental convergences! One need look no further than the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revueltosaurus#Classification" target="_blank">saga of <i>Revueltosaurus</i></a> to find examples of teeth that look similar between widely divergent clades. In the Triassic there are plenty of carnivorous reptiles, many with laterally compressed teeth. While in truth the terms developed by Hendrickx et al. (2015) are likely to be broadly applicable, a brief discussion of what synapomorphies exist among the dentition of theropods would have been appreciated, so that those of us working under all that overburden could sort our rauisuchian teeth from our dinosaur teeth just a little easier.<br />
<br />
<h3>
Works Cited</h3>
<h4>
<span style="font-weight: normal;">Foster, John. 2007. "<i>Allosaurus fragilis</i>". Jurassic West: The Dinosaurs of the Morrison Formation and Their World. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press. pp. 170–176</span></h4>
<h4>
<span style="font-weight: normal;">Hendrickx, C., Mateus, O. and Araújo, R., 2015. A proposed terminology of theropod teeth (Dinosauria, Saurischia). Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology,35(5), p.e982797. </span></h4>
<h4>
<br /></h4>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11914892485880621750noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4071831961528467035.post-63326745102990149332016-01-13T06:17:00.002-08:002016-01-13T06:18:33.114-08:00Ch-ch-changes!So things have been slow at the pub here for a bit because several changes have occurred since our last post. I will summarize them here quickly!<br />
<br />
1. Gary Vecchiarelli, one of the founders of the Prehistoric Pub, has decided to step down from blogging, at least temporarily. That leaves just me (Rob) onboard as the sole blogger for the Prehistoric Pub. Consequently, posts may come slower than in the past. Be assured, however, that the Pub is not and will not be abandoned. Upcoming topics will be the theropod tooth paper review that was promised to you (and I'm sure you are all anxiously awaiting), as well as coverage of the Utah Friends of Paleontology annual meeting, coming up at the start of April in Moab - more details as that gets closer.<br />
<br />
2. At the same time as Gary was departing the Pub, I as undergoing major life changes. I changed jobs and changed states and am now working at museum in Colorado. I love the area and job but the move has left little time for blogging. Now that I am settling in, expect blog posts to resume. I am shooting for two a month (not including this introductory one!) for 2016. One will probably be technical in nature while the other may be a reflection on general trends or topics in paleontology. And since this is the Prehistoric <b>Pub</b>, I will probably throw in a beer post or two throughout the year.<br />
<br />
Cheers, and happy 2016 everyone!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11914892485880621750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4071831961528467035.post-22435163872026903892015-10-23T08:34:00.002-07:002016-01-25T06:52:37.743-08:00When is a Triassic fauna not Triassic?In recent years among paleontologists who work on the Triassic/Jurassic boundary there has been some serious excitement about a new locality in northeastern Utah that hosts a wide variety of cool fossils. It has been named the Saint's and Sinners Quarry and has been actively worked by crews from <a href="http://geology.byu.edu/museum/" target="_blank">Brigham Young University</a> in Provo, Utah since 2009. Based on abstracts and news articles it is clear that the fauna is diverse and well represented by multiple specimens. Having been at SVP in recent years I have been able to see images of the fossils coming out of the quarry first hand. Over 11,500 fossils have been removed from the quarry which Brooks Britt (from BYU) and others estimate is only 33% excavated. Virtually all of the fossils are preserved in 3D, allowing us to have spectacular insights into animals we do not have much data from, due to crushing and other concerns. Most of the specimens are even articulated! My hat is off to all of the BYU and Dinosaur National Monument crews who have been literally working on the edge of a cliff to extract these remains.<br />
<br />
But. You knew there was a "but" coming, didn't you? But while the fossils themselves are spectacular there has been a trend in the last couple years to refer to this bone bed as being Late Triassic in age. Admittedly aeolian deposits are hard to date; they tend to lack any significant ash deposits and detritial zircons (which can be used to constrain ages in other sedimentary rocks) are not really useful in sand dunes. That is what the Nugget Sandstone is - a deposit of windblown sand in western North America that began during the latest Triassic Period and persisted well into the Early Jurassic (see <a href="http://scholar.googleusercontent.com/scholar?q=cache:PZE_lahRNzQJ:scholar.google.com/+nugget+sandstone&hl=en&as_sdt=0,3&as_ylo=2011" target="_blank">Sprinkel et al., 2011</a> for more details). This sand sea expanded as paleolatitude changed and western North America drifted further away from the equator and into the "dry belt" where warm, arid climatic conditions exist. This pattern can even be seen in the Late Triassic Chinle Formation at Dinosaur National Monument, as presented on at SVP this year (Irmis et al., 2015).<br />
<br />
The first reports of the quarry (<a href="https://gsa.confex.com/gsa/2011RM/finalprogram/abstract_187347.htm" target="_blank">Chambers et al., 2011</a>) suggested that Britt and colleagues at first assigned an Early Jurassic age to the deposit. This date was keeping with the general consensus that the Triassic/Jurassic boundary was somewhere within the Nugget. By 2012, however, it appeared that the teams views changed. That year <a href="https://gsa.confex.com/gsa/2012AM/finalprogram/abstract_210755.htm" target="_blank">Engelmann and others</a> (note -the actual abstract doesn't appear to be available any longer) presented an abstract at the GSA conference in Charlotte, NC. In the title they state that a new <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drepanosaur" target="_blank">drepanosaur</a> has been found in the Nugget Sandstone and state that it has biostratigraphic importance. They also explicitly question the Jurassic age of the Nugget (they literally put a question mark in front of the word Jurassic) based on this new find. This new drepanosaur is pretty dang cool! The team expanded on it in recent SVP meetings (Chure et al., 2013; Chure et al., 2015). This critter seems to show highly derived characters shared only with <i>Drepanosaurus</i> (a European form) that indicate it was a specialized fossorial (digging) animal. The kicker here is that all other known drepanosaurs come from definitive Triassic strata. The Nugget drepanosaur comes from a quarry 55 meters above the last reliably dated strata (the Bell Canyon Formation, which sits between the Chinle and Nugget in northeastern Utah).<br />
<br />
So what's the problem? Well this year the team again presented on some more spectacular fossils from the Saints and Sinners Quarry, including a large toothed pterosaur that is very closely related to the Early Jurassic European pterosaur <i>Dimorphodon</i> (Britt et al., 2015). This story has been <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/new-pterosaur-species-discovered_5627a7bee4b0bce347033244?ncid=fcbklnkushpmg00000042" target="_blank">picked up by the national media</a> who have been reporting this site as being Late Triassic in age. Let's do a quick review of the evidence for a Late Triassic age.<br />
<br />
<b>Evidence of a Triassic Age of the Saints and Sinners Quarry</b><br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Presence of a drepanosaur</li>
<li>Presence of several small sphenosuchians</li>
<li>In a formation that is traditionally considered to span the Triassic/Jurassic Boundary</li>
</ul>
<br />
Okay...that's not really a convincing list. This is especially true if you are claiming that this extraordinary interdunal wetland deposit represents a Triassic assemblage unlike any other in western North America. In fact two of the "pros" can actually be taken as a "con" and the third I think is ambiguous.<br />
Allow me to present a list of why I have concerns about a Triassic age for this quarry.<br />
<br />
<b>Why the Saints and Sinners Quarry may be Jurassic in age</b><br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>In a formation that is traditionally considered to span the Triassic/Jurassic Boundary</li>
<li>Quarry located 55 meters above the last Triassic-dated rocks (~1/2 the thickness of the Nugget)</li>
<li>Presence of the most-derived drepanosaur yet discovered</li>
<li>Presence of a pterosaur that is most similar to a Jurassic pterosaur</li>
<li>Presence of a medium-large bodied theropod in the quarry in addition to a coelophysoid</li>
<li>Presence of several small sphenosuchians</li>
<li>No phytosaurs</li>
<li>No aetosaurs</li>
<li>No metoposaurs</li>
<li>Upper Nugget lacks a Triassic ichnofauna</li>
</ul>
Well, does this mean case closed? No. While my list may be longer it isn't the final word on anything. Several of these points rely on the absence of taxa like phytosaurs and we all know that the absence of evidence is not the evidence of absence. Still, taken as a suite of things, I am not convinced that this quarry is Triassic. There are a few ways that perhaps we could do to see if I'm wrong.<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Phylogenetic analysis of the sphenosuchians - closely related to Chinle or Kayenta taxa?</li>
<li>Phylogenetic analysis of new drepanosaur compared to the still-unnamed Ghost Ranch form</li>
<li>Phylogenetic analysis of the theropods - are they closer to <i>Coelophysis</i> or later taxa?</li>
<li>Additional fieldwork to look for unambiguous biostratigraphic markers</li>
</ul>
<div>
To me this fauna looks like a typical Early Jurassic fauna from western North America with a drepanosaur thrown in. Could it be an impoverished Late Triassic fauna that also has several highly derived taxa in it? I suppose and I will happily eat my hat if that is the case. What a great collection of Triassic taxa it would be! With the data that have been presented thus far I just can't see it though.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Why does this matter? Timing is everything in evolution. One of the big ways we as paleontologists talk about paleobiogeography is in terms of dispersal and vicariance. Are animals (and plants, and fungi, etc.) slowly moving into new areas or are populations split up by new barriers, isolating groups that then adapt in their own directions? To put it in the context of the Nugget fossils, are we seeing evidence that many disparate clades were widespread in the Late Triassic, or are we seeing similar taxa from elsewhere in North America in the Early Jurassic adapting to new environments? These questions have serious implications for our understanding of the rate of evolution among all these groups. By tying down the date of the Saints and Sinners Quarry we will be better able to answer some of these questions.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Final caveat: this is all based off of abstracts, talks, and posters and conferences, some of which I was unable to attend or access (this is why people should archive their conference presentations on FigShare - but I digress). I am extremely excited to see the peer reviewed publications that should result from these finds. And it may very well be that their method for dating the quarry is more nuanced than they have already presented. As always, I suppose, "Wait for the paper."</div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Works Cited</b><br />
Britt, B. B., Chure, D., Engelmann, G., Dalla Vecchia, F., Scheetz, R. D., Meek, S., Thelin, C., Chambers, M. A NEW, LARGE, NON-PTERODACTYLOID PTEROSAUR FROM A LATE TRIASSIC INTERDUNAL DESERT ENVIRONMENT WITHIN THE EOLIAN NUGGET SANDSTONE OF NORTHEASTERN UTAH, USA INDICATES EARLY PTEROSAURS WERE ECOLOGICALLY DIVERSE AND GEOGRAPHICALLY WIDESPREAD. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, Program and Abstracts, 2015 p. 97<br />
<br />
Chure, D. J., Andrus, A. S., Britt, B. B., Engelmann, G. F., Pritchard, A. C., Scheetz, R., Chambers, M. MICRO CT IMAGERY REVEALS A UNIQUE MANUS MORPHOLOGY WITH DIGGING/SCRATCHING ADAPTATIONS IN THE SAINTS AND SINNERS QUARRY (SSQ) DREPANOSAUR, NUGGET SANDSTONE (LATE TRIASSIC), NORTHEASTERN UT Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, Program and Abstracts, 2015 p. 107<br />
<br />
Chure, D., Britt, B., Engelmann, G., Andrus, A., Scheetz, R. DREPANOSAURS IN THE DESERT: MULTIPLE SKELETONS OF A NEW DREPANOSAURID FROM THE EOLIAN NUGGET SANDSTONE (?LATE TRIASSIC - EARLY JURASSIC), SAINTS AND SINNERS QUARRY, UTAH: MORPHOLOGY, RELATIONSHIPS, AND BIOSTRATIGRAPHIC IMPLICATIONS Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, Program and Abstracts, 2013 p. 106<br />
<br />
Chambers, Mariah, Hales Kimberly, Brooks B. Britt, Daniel J. Chure, George F. Engelmann, and Rod Scheetz. "Preliminary taphonomic analysis of a Ceolophysoid theropod dinosaur bonebed in the Early Jurassic Nugget Sandstone of Utah." In Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, vol. 42, no. 4, p. 16. 2011.<br />
<br />
Engelmann, G., Britt, B., Chure, D., Andrus, A., Scheetz, R. MICROVERTEBRATES FROM THE SAINTS
AND SINNERS QUARRY (NUGGET SANDSTONE: ?LATE TRIASSIC–EARLY JURASSIC): A
REMARKABLE WINDOW ONTO THE DIVERSITY AND PALEOECOLOGY OF SMALL VERTEBRATES
IN AN ANCIENT EOLIAN ENVIRONMENT Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, Program and Abstracts, 2013 p. 122<br />
<br />
Engelmann, George F., Daniel J. Chure, Brooks B. Britt, and Austin Andrus. "The biostratigraphic and paleoecological significance of a new drepanosaur from the Triassic-? Jurassic Nugget Sandstone of northeastern Utah." In 2012 GSA Annual Meeting in Charlotte. 2012.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Irmis, R. B., Chure, D. J., Wiersma, J. P. LATITUDINAL GRADIENTS IN LATE TRIASSIC NONMARINE ECOSYSTEMS: NEW INSIGHTS FROM THE UPPER CHINLE FORMATION OF</div>
<div>
NORTHEASTERN UTAH, USA Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, Program and Abstracts, 2015 p. 149<br />
<br />
Sprinkel, Douglas A., Bart J. Kowallis, and Paul H. Jensen. "Correlation and age of the Nugget Sandstone and Glen Canyon Group, Utah." Utah Geological Association Publication 40 (2011): 131-149.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11914892485880621750noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4071831961528467035.post-19464776398145011012015-09-13T09:21:00.000-07:002015-09-13T09:21:51.475-07:00Dr. Thomas Holtz is my George Clooney.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-O9qURfIdMyw/VfWZFUhW8jI/AAAAAAAAmg8/0uk9ybo5NPs/s1600/TRHbyAC.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-O9qURfIdMyw/VfWZFUhW8jI/AAAAAAAAmg8/0uk9ybo5NPs/s200/TRHbyAC.jpg" width="170" /></a></div>
When people ask me what I would do if I met this or that celebrity, I always say the same. "I don't get starstruck." I really don't. Being a bartender for so many years in popular spots, I have met my fair share of celebrities. However, believe it or not, I get more giddy meeting amazing people in the field of science. These celebrities are rockstars in my book. Not only are they cool, but they inspire future generations with awesomeness. Dr. Thomas Holtz is my George Clooney. Why George Clooney Gary? Well, just like George Clooney screams Hollywood, Dr. Holtz screams science and paleontology. The world needs more celebrities in the field of education. Dr. Holtz is one of those celebrities.<br />
<br />
Hats off to you Dr. Holtz and Happy Birthday. Thank you for being an inspiration to us all. I haven't posted in a great while, so I thought what better way to clean off the rust than to honor a great paleontologist. I took the summer off to work hard, venture off on two field classes, and try to relax before going into another year of classes. Special thank you to Lisa Buckley and Robert Gay for contributing to this site. You are good friends and this site is yours also. The pub is about sharing science and promoting good friends, so anything I can do, I do my best to help others. <br />
<br />
P.S. My son is a big fan of Dr. Holtz and not long ago made a character of him in Lego's video game <i>Jurassic World </i>along with others. <a href="http://prehistoricpub.blogspot.com/2015/06/lego-jurassic-world.html">Click here to see!</a> Thought I'd share it again if you haven't seen it. It is truly an epic creation.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jav0kpYXlDI/VfWgFbL0MsI/AAAAAAAAmhM/CBckwvtM2dQ/s1600/11659367_10103808545496148_3364103550600858477_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jav0kpYXlDI/VfWgFbL0MsI/AAAAAAAAmhM/CBckwvtM2dQ/s400/11659367_10103808545496148_3364103550600858477_n.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4071831961528467035.post-80612047066357928692015-09-09T09:55:00.000-07:002015-09-09T09:55:16.281-07:00Fieldwork Flail: The Ups and Downs of Being Out and AboutHello, Dear Readers!<br />
<br />
Well, the thesis is off to the
committee (eep!), so now I get to digitally dust off the blog and leave
the academic hermitage that is writing thesis chapters! I've been
figuratively chained to the office for most of the summer. While this
was a self-imposed office banishment, having to stay indoors and write
during the summer when every fiber of my being was screaming to be
outdoors doing fieldwork wore on me. Needless to say, once the writing
was done, I jumped at the opportunity to visit one of my favorite
neoichnology sites before all the shorebirds abandoned us to the cold
weather (thanks, birds). The site is a couple of hours drive from the
museum and great for (long) day trip fieldwork.<br />
<br />
What follows is a mixed bag of success and frustration: in short, it's the typical field story. <br />
<br />
I
arranged with our summer field tech, Linda, to pick her up at 6am. I
went to bed early, as I'd be up before the sun to put the finishing
touches on my neoichnology field gear. Thanks to some horrid reaction to
something I ate, I did not get to sleep until 2am. As I finally drifted
off to sleep I thought "Oh, this trip is starting out well..."<br />
<br />
The
alarm blares off at 5am. I will be honest with you: I am not a morning
person, even when I've had a decent night's sleep. "Good" is not paired
with "morning" in my vocabulary. Our museum staff (morning people, the
whole lot of them) take great delight in being all chipper around me
when I first enter the building. The walking dead have more life in them
than I do on waking. Several cups of tea infused me with what passes as
life, I picked up Linda, we loaded the last of the gear into the field
truck, and left town for a pleasantly uneventful drive to the site.<br />
<br />
Oh, sorry. I slipped into telling fiction. Back to reality.<br />
<br />
We
were driving down the highway, which is pleasantly empty at this time
of the morning. This means that I'm not ticking off the drivers who want
to do 100-120km/hr by driving the speed limit (90km/hr). Given the
driving habits of the region and the fact that we are smack dab in the
middle of the BC wilderness, there are a lot of black tire marks on the
highway. I didn't think anything of that new black mark on the
road...until I was close enough to see that it had thickness. I slowed
and swerved around whatever it was...<br />
<br />
BANG!<br />
<br />
My
foot left the gas immediately. We slowed to a crawl. This let me know
that a) my tire(s) were still attached to the truck, and b) the axles
(if damaged) would last long enough to get us to a safe shoulder. We
crept along the road until we found a turn-off to a gravel road, engaged
the hazards, and stepped out to survey the damage.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jg5gUiQfCPg/VdysPinwS2I/AAAAAAAABiM/jp9FTdQBmrs/s1600/20150819_071534.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jg5gUiQfCPg/VdysPinwS2I/AAAAAAAABiM/jp9FTdQBmrs/s320/20150819_071534.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The flattest of all tires.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<b>Important Field Tip #1:</b> Know how to
change the tires on your field vehicle. Don't just assume that you know
how to change a tire - actually practice on your field vehicle before
you set off on your adventures. Everyone on your field crew needs to
practice being the lead on changing a tire. Even though we were right on
the highway, we had no cell service and the satellite phone was being
twitchy, so there would be no calling BCAAA. <br />
<br />
Fortunately
for me and Linda, while we had not been the leads on changing a tire,
we knew enough from several assists how to do it. The most troublesome
part of the process was lowering the bloody spare from under the vehicle
because we couldn't find the thrice-damned attachment for the jack that
fits into the decent mechanism. Which leads me to...<br />
<br />
<b>Important Field Tip #2:</b>
Keep all of your jack attachments in one area, even if they are small.
It took longer than it should have to locate the proper attachment,
which was helpfully located in the glove compartment. Once located, we
were off to the races, so to speak. During the process we also
encountered...<br />
<br />
<b>Important Field Tip #3:</b> People
are jerks. Don't trust that they will bother to stop, slow down, or even
move their vehicle as they roar past you at 110km/hr on a relatively
narrow highway. Out of the seven vehicles that drove past, not one even
slowed down. This was all well and good - we didn't need help (and we
didn't want the hassle of trying to tell someone that the damsels in
distress actually could change a tire all by our little selves), but the
gravel and dust being whipped at us from speeding trucks got old.<br />
<br />
The tire change went smoothly. Once the tire was off...<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OY9nv2o8Np4/VdywBUskDUI/AAAAAAAABiY/pAkIcnb03w0/s1600/20150819_080651.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OY9nv2o8Np4/VdywBUskDUI/AAAAAAAABiY/pAkIcnb03w0/s320/20150819_080651.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
we
could see the extent of the damage. Whatever the tire had hit, it went
right through. There would be no patching this tire. That tire wasn't
just damaged: it was cancelled.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2iEyJbKHg-E/VdywrrCaySI/AAAAAAAABig/FkZtKgVkB6I/s1600/20150819_080657.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2iEyJbKHg-E/VdywrrCaySI/AAAAAAAABig/FkZtKgVkB6I/s320/20150819_080657.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Linda shows us the extent of the damage.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
That was Adventure #1. We decided that we deserved to
stop at Tim Horton's before continuing on to the site. We also made a
note of our location, because on the way back we planned to find the
wretched thing in the road that thrashed the tire.<br />
<br />
We
made it to the parking area of the field site without any incident.
Accessing the neoichnology site requires crossing a river. Usually the
river is gentle and shallow enough at this location to cross without too
much difficulty. However, recent rains had given the river a bit of
vigor and depth. Each of us had a cumbersome load to pack across the
river (plaster, mixing buckets, cameras, personal gear), and the local
river bed flora add a nice element of slime to the bouldery river bed.
Crossing would prove to be tricky.<br />
<br />
We found a spot that
looked promising, and started across. A combination of bulky gear,
slimy boulders, and a slight misstep sent me flailing into the river.<br />
<br />
SPLASH!<br />
<br />
All
I remember going in was thinking "S**t, the camera!" and holding that
aloft with my right hand while my left hand let go of the bucket (which
Linda retrieved before it floated off on its own adventure) and broke my
fall. This area was deep enough that I didn't break my fall before
going almost completely under the water - I think the top of my head was
still dry - but the palm of my left hand took the full force of my fall
as it hit boulders and gravel. Needless to say, there was a little bit
of damage.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-QtdqsM4_n-M/Vdy2HpKWd3I/AAAAAAAABiw/PRIpX8IMBi0/s1600/20150819_105059.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-QtdqsM4_n-M/Vdy2HpKWd3I/AAAAAAAABiw/PRIpX8IMBi0/s320/20150819_105059.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It's only a flesh wound...I hope.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I carry a first aid kit with me, but there was very
little I could do at this point that couldn't wait until I reached
civilization. Sure, I could have dug around in my hand to remove bits of
embedded gravel, but nice cushiony blisters formed around the impact
sites, so I knew where the offending material was located. What worried
me more was the sharp ache deep in my first metacarpal - did I break or
crack it? I could still move it, albeit with some discomfort, so I
figured we had come too far to give up on the chance of shorebird
traces. <br />
<br />
We finally crossed the river, and I changed into more-or-less dry clothes. We had arrived!<br />
<br />
This area is dominated by Canada Goose tracks, and the fine-grained sediment captured their trampling nicely.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-A5-VtUWYgjE/Vdy4YUr_bSI/AAAAAAAABi8/fLcidv2EXOc/s1600/DSC02975.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-A5-VtUWYgjE/Vdy4YUr_bSI/AAAAAAAABi8/fLcidv2EXOc/s320/DSC02975.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Canada Goose trample surface.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
With the Canada Goose tracks were smaller anseriform
(duck) footprints: they have a different overall shape than Canada Goose
tracks, so we knew they weren't young geese.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-UfH2gyki7LI/Vdy6gc7wZxI/AAAAAAAABjU/TFvT_66Mcjg/s1600/small%2Bduck%2B1.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="212" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-UfH2gyki7LI/Vdy6gc7wZxI/AAAAAAAABjU/TFvT_66Mcjg/s320/small%2Bduck%2B1.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Duck, duck, (not) goose. Do you see the inward curving outer toes?</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Did you see the webbing? Webbing is a useful feature
when it preserves, but webbing is inconsistently preserved in bird
tracks. If the sediment consistency is just right (firm yet damp, like a
firm wet beach sand), webbing may not impress. A more reliable feature
is the curvature of the lateral toes: members of the duck group
(Anseriformes) with palmate webbing (a completely webbed three-toed
foot) have digits II and IV (the outer two toes) that curve towards the
middle digit (digit III). Sandpipers with semipalmate webbing (webbing
that attaches only partly down the length of the toes) do not have
inward curving side toes.<br />
<br />
Part of neoichnology is
hanging out in an area long enough to see the local wildlife. Ideally,
you want to see the animal in question make the footprints. If that
isn't an option, you need to know who is frequenting the area. If the
tracks you are looking at are fresh, there's a better chance that the
trackmakers you see are the owners of those footprints. These tracks
were relatively fresh, so I knew that there was a good chance the
trackmaker was either nearby or would revisit the site. All we had to do
was wait.<br />
<br />
While we were waiting, we checked out the
track surface for more examples of the same type of footprint preserved
in different ways. Here is a great example of how there is not one
preservational scenario that will preserve all features all the time.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1RsVlNYhaq8/VeI52guke3I/AAAAAAAABj0/wNm8h9RppuU/s1600/Duck%2Bdigit%2B1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1RsVlNYhaq8/VeI52guke3I/AAAAAAAABj0/wNm8h9RppuU/s400/Duck%2Bdigit%2B1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
The
webbing on these Canada Goose prints is very poorly preserved, but the
hallux (digit I) on the left footprint is gorgeous! Digit I is another
one of those birdy features that is inconsistently preserved, yet so
many rely on the presence of the hallux impression as THE feature for
saying with 100% certainty "Yes! We have a bird print!" I have a paper
in press that discusses how the fossil and neoichnology data shows it's
rarely that simple. Stay tuned!<br />
<br />
We also found great
samples of skin impressions for Canada Goose footprints. This print
doesn't look like much at first glance - no webbing, no hallux, no
"heel" pad (which isn't really a heel, but a fleshy pad where the toes
and the end of the metatarsals connect)...<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-CJCNNBAHn1Q/VeI8aiO5VYI/AAAAAAAABkA/BRbxlh4YK_4/s1600/Skin%2Bimpression%2B1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-CJCNNBAHn1Q/VeI8aiO5VYI/AAAAAAAABkA/BRbxlh4YK_4/s320/Skin%2Bimpression%2B1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
...but on closer inspection, it has great skin impressions!<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZyN3MXIcoCs/VeI9WWUyurI/AAAAAAAABkI/_H-0RFjpa74/s1600/Skin%2Bimpress%2B2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="202" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZyN3MXIcoCs/VeI9WWUyurI/AAAAAAAABkI/_H-0RFjpa74/s320/Skin%2Bimpress%2B2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
A
close-up look at the footprint shows that it preserves the creases,
ridges, and pebbly texture on the bottom (plantar surface) of this
Canada Goose's foot.<br />
<br />
We also found evidence of our mammalian friends on the track surface: guess who?<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-aStK2DUIh3k/VeI-I9j_9hI/AAAAAAAABkQ/PH0tLCfdVHU/s1600/Wolf%2B1.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="211" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-aStK2DUIh3k/VeI-I9j_9hI/AAAAAAAABkQ/PH0tLCfdVHU/s320/Wolf%2B1.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">If you guessed wolf, you would be correct!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-WNXRhACTnS0/VeI-oZM7c8I/AAAAAAAABkc/vilpJegNmPQ/s1600/Wolf%2B2.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-WNXRhACTnS0/VeI-oZM7c8I/AAAAAAAABkc/vilpJegNmPQ/s400/Wolf%2B2.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Grey Wolf
trackway overprinting the multiple trackways of Canada Goose. Bonus
question: was this wolf walking or moving faster than a walk?</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
While we waited for the arrival of our small ducks
(we could hear some quacking in the distance) we made a few plaster of
Paris replicas of the different preservational variations of the Canada
Goose and the as-of-yet unidentified small duck tracks.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-deSGxrwRkbE/VeJC0Ko8OCI/AAAAAAAABko/zzoDSee_2Qw/s1600/Casting%2B2.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="162" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-deSGxrwRkbE/VeJC0Ko8OCI/AAAAAAAABko/zzoDSee_2Qw/s320/Casting%2B2.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Small duck trackway being cast.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-EpYCHbPsVMk/VeJC1BMRP0I/AAAAAAAABkw/dtMPn0pvwpM/s1600/Casting%2B1.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-EpYCHbPsVMk/VeJC1BMRP0I/AAAAAAAABkw/dtMPn0pvwpM/s320/Casting%2B1.jpg" width="277" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The track surface with plaster replicas (white patches) drying.</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Making replicas of modern tracks is a really simple
process, and it's something that anyone of any age can do. We use a
fiberglass-reinforced plaster of Paris (Hydrocal FGR-95). I also add
additional fiberglass matting to the backs of the replicas, as many of
my track casts are long and thin. Field neoichnology casting is a
cumbersome process: you have to haul out plaster, mixing containers,
fiberglass mat (or chop, but that's a pain in the butt to work with) and
garbage bags. You also have to haul the awkwardly-shaped plaster casts
out of the field. However, I think it's worth it for bird tracks. We're
getting mixed results with digital photogrammetry on small bird
footprints, and one of the reasons is that they are often wet, shiny,
and partially underwater. All of this extra reflection confuses the
computer program, which "prefers" even, consistent lighting for all of
the images used in making the 3D digital replica. Also, plaster replicas
are cheap to make, and I'm an ichnologist on a very strict budget.<br />
<br />
This brings me to <b>Important Field Tip #4</b>:
Pack it in, pack it out. We mix all of the plaster in a container
placed inside a garbage bag, and any plaster drips and slops are
collected after they harden. We don't want to leave a trace while we
collect traces.<br />
<br />
While we were waiting for the replicas to dry, we saw that our small ducks had arrived!<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1kMKH6lAxTk/VeJG5JyHTYI/AAAAAAAABk8/lEaAWxdOTlU/s1600/Teals.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="185" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1kMKH6lAxTk/VeJG5JyHTYI/AAAAAAAABk8/lEaAWxdOTlU/s320/Teals.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
This
is a horrid picture, but viewing these ducks through my binoculars let
me know that they are Green-winged Teals in their non-breeding plumage.
They are a small brown dappled duck, but one was kind enough to
rearrange its wing feathers long enough to show me the green patch.<br />
<br />
This
was a good day for ducks, but where were my shorebirds? We scanned
every centimeter of this shoreline, crossed over this waste-deep body of
water to a second projection of land and scoured that for shorebird
prints, and came up with almost nothing. We saw really faint impressions
of Spotted Sandpiper footprints, but they were made in such wet mud
that they had all but collapsed in on themselves, leaving nothing but
faint lines where the toes impressions should be. We were about to call
ourselves skunked in the shorebird category when we came across this:<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Sm2U6aWrwe4/VeJJXLW97EI/AAAAAAAABlI/41Oop0EsWPU/s1600/Spotted.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="186" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Sm2U6aWrwe4/VeJJXLW97EI/AAAAAAAABlI/41Oop0EsWPU/s320/Spotted.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">FINALLY!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
It turns out there were a pair of Spotted Sandpipers
at this locality, but they were being extremely sneaky with us. We
turned every corner just to see them flying away: none were comfortable
with us in their territory, and they were more or less avoiding walking
in areas that would keep an impression of a footprint for more than a
few minutes. This was a huge change from last year, when two Spotted
Sandpipers took a short nap while I was taking photos of them. On our
way back to the field truck at the end of the day, we found out the
little buggers had doubled back on us and were foraging in the areas we
had already prospected. This brings me to my final <b>Important Field Tip</b>: you can't control your wild study taxa. Some days they cooperate, while on other days they flip you the feathery Bird.<br />
<br />
<br />
This
was a typical field excursion, full of wins (great duck and goose
tracks) and fails (the Thrashing of the Tire and my new gravel
piercings). Regardless of the frustrating parts, it was great to be back
in the field!<br />
<br />
Until next time, <br />
SAS<br />
<br />
P.S.
- My thumb turned out not to be broken (yay!) but it was swollen and
sore for a few days. Here is a picture the day after I landed on it.
Luckily the blisters were just impact blisters - there were no embedded
gravel chunks to remove. <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-LvqofJW_KMI/VeJOrRekmsI/AAAAAAAABlY/YZljBmimYX8/s1600/ouch.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-LvqofJW_KMI/VeJOrRekmsI/AAAAAAAABlY/YZljBmimYX8/s320/ouch.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4071831961528467035.post-67816112992208030082015-09-03T12:38:00.001-07:002015-09-03T12:39:31.598-07:00The Past Was Horrifying - Sounds of the Mesozoic<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Okay, welcome to my part 2 of X on how the past was likely horrifying if we had lived through it. Today is going to be about what the Mesozoic Era might have sounded like. Apologies ahead of time but this will be a video-heavy post.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
When we picture (or rather hear) what dinosaurs (and other prehistoric reptiles) may have sounded like most people will think back to dinosaur movies where the beasts are rampaging. Roaring, snorting, growling, and hissing creatures fill the screen with angry sounds. After the release of <i>Jurassic Park</i>, many of the sounds created by Universal's sound studio have been remixed and reused by other films both on large and small screens. Let's quickly review some of the iconic sounds that these creatures made back in the early 1990s.</div>
<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/1koa2xAxCAw/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/1koa2xAxCAw?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<i>Tyrannosaurus</i> breaks out of its pen. Prepare to get <i>T. rekt</i>. Copyright Universal Studios.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/d921M-ACMM4/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/d921M-ACMM4?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
My close friend (unfairly portrayed here) <i>Dilophosaurus</i>. Copyright Universal Studios.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/dnRxQ3dcaQk/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/dnRxQ3dcaQk?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
The famous scene with <i>Velociraptor</i>s in the kitchen. Copyright Universal Studios.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
This gives us a great variety of sounds. From the deep bass rumbling roar of the <i>Tyrannosaurus</i> to the chirps of the <i>Dilophosaurus</i>, and the high-pitched screech of the <i>Velociraptor</i> we have great mood-appropriate sounds from our animal villains and protagonists. I especially love the sounds that the <i>Tyrannosaurus</i> in <i>Jurassic Park</i> makes. It gave me chills in the theater all those years ago and it still is exciting to me. But it also makes me question whether an actual <i>Tyrannosaurus</i> sounded like its cinematic depiction.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Since <i>Tyrannosaurus</i> and the other dinosaurs depicted in <i>Jurassic Park</i> are archosaurs, I figured it would be a reasonable place to start looking at the sounds our extinct friends might have made. If we can use extant phylogenetic bracketing for integument and parental care (among other things), why not the possible vocal capabilities? I decided to look at crocodiles and ratites + hoatzin, as my EPB.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
What I found was frightening. The first thing I learned is that ratite sounds are not cute.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/UyRqTAxZNRo/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/UyRqTAxZNRo?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
A modern Rhea, doing Rhea things.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/-EDldp4NLCw/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/-EDldp4NLCw?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
Ostriches with their absurdly low booming sounds.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/4dcQO6Zb8Eg/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/4dcQO6Zb8Eg?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe><br />
<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
The frighteningly unexpected growls of the modern Cassowary.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/vnWGzJhqrVQ/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/vnWGzJhqrVQ?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
The Hoatzin. Long video, but you can hear the sharp, chuffing near the start between parrot calls.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Being the glutton for punishment that I am, I decided to make myself listen to crocodilian sounds. Not only are they equally terrifying, but they also share some similarities to some of the ratite sounds.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Jkh3sknNnkI/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Jkh3sknNnkI?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div>
<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
Crocodilians have primeval sounding roars and the occasional hiss.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
What is the takeaway from this investigation? For me, it is the idea that screeching, chirping, and otherwise boisterous dinosaurs may not be as plausible as Hollywood would like us to believe. Both croc and modern less-derived birds generally do not make "songs" or "calls" but rather deep rumbles/roars and occasional hisses/clicks. The shriek of the <i>Jurassic Park Velociraptor</i>, spliced together with dolphin and monkey sounds doesn't seem so plausible to me. Nor does the pretty sounding cry of our oddly-hopping <i>Dilophosaurus</i> (or it's rattlesnake-mincing attack cry) make much sense if the similarities between our EPB creatures represent a real signal. But what of our beloved <i>Tyrannosaurus</i> call?</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/R5yrrfaA1bg/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/R5yrrfaA1bg?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
A collection of all the <i>Tyrannosaurus rex</i> sounds from <i>Jurassic Park</i></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
To me, this is the most convincing of all the theropod sounds produced for cinema. It sounds the most like the creatures I sampled for my EPB. But there is also another potential problem: size. Just as a tuba sounds deeper than a flute, the size of an animal's resonating chamber (larynx/sirynx) affects the deepness of the sounds it produces. Our largest terrestrial animal today, the African Elephant, is able to produce infrasound (sound too low to hear). The idea of large theropods or sauropods being able to produce infrasound is not itself unreasonable. The large birds and crocs I listened are already producing super-low frequency sounds and crocs are known to produce infrasound during mating season. The Mesozoic world may have been punctuated by low frequency roars and rumbles and silent periods interrupted by a strange feeling in your bones as a large sauropod or theropod let out a noise too low for our ears to hear.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
"But wait," my ornithischian fans cry out (Pete, I'm looking at you...)! "What is this saurischian bias?" Well one reason for my saurischian bias is that most (but not all!) movie dinosaurs that make sounds are saurischians. Another is that we have to do a bit less speculation on the possible sounds some ornithischians would have made thanks to Sandia Labs and their 3D reproduction of a <i>Paraaurolophus</i> crest. While not perfect, it gives us an idea of what type of sounds large hadrosaurs may have been able to produce. It is worth noting that this reconstructed vocalization is a low sound, similar to what I've been suggesting for saurischians.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/QtpSOpUDCb8/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/QtpSOpUDCb8?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
Ignore the metallic overtones...</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/pEquAxBg-SA/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/pEquAxBg-SA?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
Compared to the <i>Jurassic Park</i> <i>Parasaurolophus</i> cry...</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Moral of the story: the Mesozoic would sound very little like what we imagine it to, based on depictions in cinema and television. Dinosaurs at least would have been making sounds more like their modern relatives than the mixed-up mammal sounds studios are fond of using. This would create an audio landscape deeply unfamiliar to our modern ears.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
I'll leave you with one more clip: perhaps the most accurate dinosaur sounds in all of cinema history. Next time from me: discussion of a new tooth paper out in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology standardizing theropod tooth nomenclature, an issue near and dear to me at the moment!</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/fIDJ-Y-_Dxs/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/fIDJ-Y-_Dxs?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
1969's <i>Valley of Gwangi</i>, featuring an <i>Allosaurus</i> and a <i>Styracosaurus</i></div>
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11914892485880621750noreply@blogger.com2Casa Grande, AZ, USA32.8795022 -111.7573520999999932.6661587 -112.08007559999999 33.0928457 -111.4346286tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4071831961528467035.post-20817734688397163892015-08-12T08:00:00.000-07:002015-08-12T08:00:05.859-07:00Richard Delgado's Age of Reptiles: Ancient EgyptiansI have been a fan of Richard Delgado's <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Age-Reptiles-Omnibus-Vol-1/dp/1595826831/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1439140398&sr=1-2" target="_blank">Age of Reptiles</a></i> series for a little while now. If you are unfamiliar with the series it is a comic that focuses on recreating the prehistoric world. Delgado has looked at the Morrison and Clovery Formations in the past with his previous volumes but it has been several years. Now he takes aim at the paleoecosystems of North Africa in the Late Cretaceous.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zglekk-4Q2Y/VcgZDsnkdjI/AAAAAAAABmE/yGnzoSyryK4/s1600/Cover1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zglekk-4Q2Y/VcgZDsnkdjI/AAAAAAAABmE/yGnzoSyryK4/s320/Cover1.jpg" width="208" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The cover of Issue 1. Copyright Dark Horse Comics.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The story follows, so far, the exploits of a lone <i>Spinosaurus</i> as it cruises around the mangroves and deltas of what is now Egypt. The first thing that jumped out at me is that the animals in <i>Ancient Egyptians</i> are far more accurate than in some of his earlier works. For example:<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-QNhquXv5PUw/VcmHuB7pwHI/AAAAAAAABnA/McD7YBtfoVM/s1600/Old-AgeofReptiles.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="185" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-QNhquXv5PUw/VcmHuB7pwHI/AAAAAAAABnA/McD7YBtfoVM/s320/Old-AgeofReptiles.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">What is happening here? Anatomy? Physiology? MAKE THEM FIGHT! Copyright Dark Horse Comics.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
While the artwork has always been pleasant to downright gorgeous in previous installments of <i>Age of Reptiles</i>, I find the accuracy and beauty of this latest outing is commendable. I will state that I am not someone who works on Cretaceous vertebrates from North Africa, but looking at the animals and scenes presented in the first two issues of <i>Ancient Egyptians</i> I don't see anything that immediately jumps out at me as being horrendously wrong either paleontologically or behaviorally. I am impressed at the care that Delgado has put into portraying his animals and scenes.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RsP6r7OtpTI/VcmJDZ0-hQI/AAAAAAAABnM/zP_OaK-tBQM/s1600/ANCIENT-EGYPTIANS-1024x796.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="496" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RsP6r7OtpTI/VcmJDZ0-hQI/AAAAAAAABnM/zP_OaK-tBQM/s640/ANCIENT-EGYPTIANS-1024x796.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Scene from <i>Ancient Egyptians</i>, copyright Dark Horse Comics. Holy cow, look at the difference between the earlier work and now! Blood, poop, backgrounds!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<i>Ancient Egyptians</i> does suffer one setback. This series doesn't fully take into account how <a href="http://www.sciencemag.org/content/345/6204/1613.abstract" target="_blank">recent work</a> has changed our understanding of what <i>Spinosaurus </i>looked like. The sail is shown as one uninterrupted convex bulge. The forelimbs are long but the hind feet show three functional digits and no webbing. Both of these are contra Ibrahim et al. (2014). To his credit(?), <i>Spinosaurus</i> is shown on all fours multiple times...but that may not be reasonable considering it is a theropod. And Delgado does like to pronate his theropod hands.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-YHENPY_JjIA/VcgZDrVnzeI/AAAAAAAABmA/kR3tpCXYUVY/s1600/Cover2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-YHENPY_JjIA/VcgZDrVnzeI/AAAAAAAABmA/kR3tpCXYUVY/s320/Cover2.jpg" width="208" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The cover of Issue 2. Copyright Dark Horse Comics. The two back animals show pronated hands.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Regardless, Delgado does a great job of making <i>Spinosaurus</i> seem alive and an actual animal, not like a monstrous killing machine (I'm looking at you <i>Jurassic Park III</i>). His <i>Spinosaurus</i> seems <i>real</i>. It poops. It fights. It sleeps. It fails at hunting. It hides. It tries to mate. It has the wounds to prove it.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-nQgPRIB-6S4/VcmKVoPqKhI/AAAAAAAABnY/uRWu2unjUAQ/s1600/Age%2Bof%2BReptiles%2B-%2BAncient%2BEgyptians1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="116" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-nQgPRIB-6S4/VcmKVoPqKhI/AAAAAAAABnY/uRWu2unjUAQ/s320/Age%2Bof%2BReptiles%2B-%2BAncient%2BEgyptians1.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-8gKhacgLNMY/VcmKV3rfL-I/AAAAAAAABnc/vDLPOnNDP0g/s1600/AgeofReptiles1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="116" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-8gKhacgLNMY/VcmKV3rfL-I/AAAAAAAABnc/vDLPOnNDP0g/s320/AgeofReptiles1.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The scarred protagonist <i>Spinosaurus.</i> Copyright Dark Horse Comics.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
It isn't just the main character that seems real. Herbivores are violent and protective - not dumb domestic cows with scales. Mating and rearing rituals are brutal but also in line with what we know about modern animals. It may be hard to look at some of the illustrations later in Issue 2 but on the other side they are in line with what we know about how some modern adult males act in the presence of unrelated juveniles.<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Issue 3 just came out at the end of last week and Issue 4 comes out in September. I am looking forward to picking them up and finishing the tale which Delgado likens to Samurai and Western classic films. The absence of narrative text might put some off but for myself I find it adds to the immersion. Where will the lone <i>Spinosaurus</i> find himself at the end of his journey?<br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-XOmE7DbVD9k/VcgZDmF7rDI/AAAAAAAABl8/dtT_ADSYUAs/s1600/Cover3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-XOmE7DbVD9k/VcgZDmF7rDI/AAAAAAAABl8/dtT_ADSYUAs/s320/Cover3.jpg" width="208" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The cover of Issue 3. Copyright Dark Horse Comics.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b>References</b>:<div>
Delgado, Richard. "Age of Reptiles: Ancient Egyptians" Dark Horse Comics. (2015).</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Ibrahim, Nizar, Paul C. Sereno, Cristiano Dal Sasso, Simone Maganuco, Matteo Fabbri, David M. Martill, Samir Zouhri, Nathan Myhrvold, and Dawid A. Iurino. "<a href="http://www.researchgate.net/profile/David_Martill/publication/265553416_Semiaquatic_adaptations_in_a_giant_predatory_dinosaur/links/545361430cf2bccc4909c198.pdf">Semiaquatic adaptations in a giant predatory dinosaur.</a>" Science 345, no. 6204 (2014): 1613-1616.</div>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11914892485880621750noreply@blogger.com0Casa Grande, AZ, USA32.8795022 -111.7573520999999932.8795022 -111.75735209999999 32.8795022 -111.75735209999999tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4071831961528467035.post-46552617088422239432015-08-08T16:11:00.000-07:002015-08-09T20:09:54.452-07:00Brink et al. 2015 - What does it tell us about phytosaurs?So new tooth news seems to be coming at a rapid pace this year! Several tooth-related papers have come out already and we're barely past the halfway mark. Most recently we have <a href="http://www.nature.com/srep/2015/150728/srep12338/full/srep12338.html" target="_blank">Brink et al. (2015)</a> discussing funky features in meat-eating dinosaurs and, tangentially, other archosaurs. While I obviously love theropods and dinosaurs in general my interest at the moment is with non-dinosaurian archosaurs like our strange Chinle friends from Comb Ridge.<br />
<br />
Duane Nash already did <a href="http://antediluviansalad.blogspot.com/2015/08/death-comes-ripping-bone-saw-theropods.html" target="_blank">a good breakdown</a> of what the article means in terms of theropod dinosaurs and how to relate the findings of Brink et al. to modern correlates as well as exploring what they could mean in terms of feeding and prey capture methods in various dinosaurs. If you haven't read his blog I'll wait.<br />
<br />
Okay. Back? Good. As you can tell from both the article and the blog Brink et al. reject the stress-induced formation hypothesis for these interdental folds, as has been suggested previously. Instead they find that these structures are present even before stresses are placed on the teeth - while the unerupted teeth are still in the alveoli. So what does that have to do with Triassic teeth?<br />
<br />
If you read the article you will see they sampled a few non-dinosaurian taxa (a phytosaur and an indeterminate Cretaceous croc) as well as the Triassic theropod <i>Coelophysis</i>. We have an abundance of phytosaur teeth at Comb Ridge and have picked up a few teeth we have tentatively IDed as theropod. So not only is Brink et al. a cool paper, it deals with some of our Triassic friends too!<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-AxYqO0zkB80/VcaK9p2B-XI/AAAAAAAABlc/SybVJGX7NJ8/s1600/phytosaurdentition.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="87" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-AxYqO0zkB80/VcaK9p2B-XI/AAAAAAAABlc/SybVJGX7NJ8/s400/phytosaurdentition.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Two views of phytosaur teeth in SEM and thin section, both from Brink et al. (2015), <a href="https://s100.copyright.com/AppDispatchServlet?publisherName=NPG&publication=Scientific+Reports&title=Developmental+and+evolutionary+novelty+in+the+serrated+teeth+of+theropod+dinosaurs&contentID=10.1038%2Fsrep12338&volumeNum=5&issueNum=&numPages=&pageNumbers=pp%24%7BnPage.startPage%7D&publicationDate=2015-07-28&cc=by&author=K.+S.+Brink%2C+R.+R.+Reisz%2C+A.+R.+H.+LeBlanc%2C+R.+S.+Chang%2C+Y.+C.+Lee%2C+C.+C.+Chiang" target="_blank">CC-BY</a><br />
Image C shows mesial denticles under SEM and thin section. D shows a thin section with enamel, globular dentine, and primary dentine.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Brink et al. are looking mainly at the evolution and development of the structures with limited discussion on how the structures would have directly influenced prey capture and processing (though Nash, linked above, goes into that more). One of the more interesting things to me to come out of this is that phytosaurs have interdental fold structures like theropods and unlike crocs, <i>Spinosaurus</i>, ominivorous animals like <i>Troodon</i> and pure herbivores like ornithischian dinosaurs. Brink et al. further state that these adaptations are best interpreted as ways to capture large prey and crush bone. When we talk about phytosaurs, though, most people tend to interpret them as crocodile analogs. Sometimes this means perhaps ambushing large prey, other times preying on fish. This second option has been especially favored for the narrow-snouted forms, viewed by some as not robust enough to deal with large struggling prey.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aTwKnW7lOs4/VcZxtEgeU9I/AAAAAAAABk0/9KMAxvj8wt8/s1600/eucoelophysis_fin2_by_apsaravis-d6lj4n4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="191" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aTwKnW7lOs4/VcZxtEgeU9I/AAAAAAAABk0/9KMAxvj8wt8/s400/eucoelophysis_fin2_by_apsaravis-d6lj4n4.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A <i>Redondasaurus</i> attacks a decent sized prey item - a silesaurid. From <a href="http://apsaravis.deviantart.com/art/Eucoelophysis-attacked-by-Redondasaurus-398961472" target="_blank">Edyta Felcyn</a>: go support her art!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
There is some other evidence to suggest that phytosaurs were not just meekly eating fish and moderate-sized animals like dinosauromorphs (see image above). Coupled with their teeth that were perfectly adapted to ripping up large struggling prey items and mashing their bones, we have trace behavioral evidence to indicate this is exactly what happened. Last year <a href="http://www.researchgate.net/profile/Sterling_Nesbitt/publication/265733522_Direct_evidence_of_trophic_interactions_among_apex_predators_in_the_Late_Triassic_of_western_North_America/links/5432273d0cf277d58e983ab5.pdf" target="_blank">Drumheller et al.</a> documented a phytosaur attack on a living rauisuchian. You can read <a href="http://www.pasttime.org/podcast/quick-bite-clash-of-the-triassic-titans/" target="_blank">PastTime Podcast</a>'s take on the paper if you don't want to read through the paper itself. In short, though, they find evidence that a phytosaur tried to wreck shop on a rauisuchian, an animal that was basically a cross between a tyrannosaur and a crocodile. Wreck so much shop, in fact, that the phytosaur tooth went almost completely through the femur of the rauisuchian. This unfortunate fellow was then attacked by another rauisuchian and finally scavenged by a smaller phytosaur. Times were rough in the Triassic, even if you were the biggest, baddest fellow on the land.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ANsHRhqHBcc/VcZ7fAUHwGI/AAAAAAAABlM/GXmDHdjYcLo/s1600/drumhelleretalfemur.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ANsHRhqHBcc/VcZ7fAUHwGI/AAAAAAAABlM/GXmDHdjYcLo/s320/drumhelleretalfemur.png" width="235" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Damaged psuedosuchian femur. The phytosaur attack is represented by the embedded tooth in Box A. Image from Drumheller et al. (2014).</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
If encounters like this were rare and the exception to the normal behavior of phytosaurs then the fossils described by Drumheller et al. are truly remarkable. Between the marked heterodonty found in adult phytosaurs described by Hungerbühler (2000) and the new evidence that they possessed dental adaptations that enabled them to capture, kill, and process prey larger than them it seems unlikely that this was a one-off chance encounter.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-xIDKkh05rV4/VcZ7dcM8EnI/AAAAAAAABlE/zt0A7so4BPE/s1600/Hungerbuhler%2Btooth%2Bviews.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="227" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-xIDKkh05rV4/VcZ7dcM8EnI/AAAAAAAABlE/zt0A7so4BPE/s320/Hungerbuhler%2Btooth%2Bviews.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption">Ventral view of phytosaur snouts from Hungerbühler (2000). Note the different size and shapes of the teeth in this view.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Instead our view of phytosaurs as fish-eaters occasionally attacking small-to-medium-sized land prey needs to be challenged. Phytosaurs were equipped with a dental battery that enabled them to routinely tackle large, dangerous, struggling prey as adults. This would include animals that were significantly larger than them. While juvenile phytosaurs seem to lack these dental adaptations (see, for example, <a href="http://prehistoricpub.blogspot.com/2015/07/archosauriform-tooth-new-preprint.html" target="_blank">my earlier post on this topic</a>) and likely pursued prey smaller than themselves, adults would have been terrifying creatures to behold.<br />
<br />
An interesting point to consider too: if phytosaurs were more like Nile Crocodiles than gharials, why don't we see ziphodont dentition in crocs? Certainly wildebeast and zebra don't give up after a fight. Brink et al. note that their Cretaceous croc also lacks ziphodont dentition, suggesting the behavior of crocs and their prey haven't changed much. Modern crocs are obviously capable of tackling large prey (though usually not larger than their own body). If they have gone hundreds of millions of years without the interdental folds and can eat large land prey, what were phytosaurs doing different?<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/4h9re1bHt40/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/4h9re1bHt40?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Crocodiles and their prey in Africa - 2:57 from National Geographic</span></div>
<br />
We don't have the fossils to answer that definitively but it would appear that modern crocodiles are not as good of an analogy for phytosaurs as has long been supposed. Hopefully future work at Comb Ridge and across Triassic collections will lead to new insights, clarifying what this unique clade was doing.<br />
<br />
As an end note, Brink et al. suggest that ziphodont dentition with interdental folds is basal to all theropods, even thought phytosaurs possess the same tooth structure. It would have been nice to look at things like pseudosuchians from the Triassic to see if similar dental structure existed. If so, perhaps this sort of adaptation dates back to the rise of archosaurs in general. I guess that's another paper for another time.<br />
<br />
Next up from me: a return to the lighter side. I'm going to be reviewing Richard Delgado's new <i>Age of Reptiles</i> comic series, <i>Ancient Egyptians</i>!<br />
<br />
<b>References:</b><br />
<br />
Brink, K. S., Reisz, R. R., LeBlanc, A. R. H., Chang, R. S., Lee, Y. C., Chiang, C. C., ... & Evans, D. C. (2015). Developmental and evolutionary novelty in the serrated teeth of theropod dinosaurs. Scientific reports, 5.<br />
<br />
Drumheller, S. K., Stocker, M. R., & Nesbitt, S. J. (2014). Direct evidence of trophic interactions among apex predators in the Late Triassic of western North America. Naturwissenschaften, 101(11), 975-987.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
Hungerbühler, A. (2000). Heterodonty in the European phytosaur Nicrosaurus kapffi and its implications for the taxonomic utility and functional morphology of phytosaur dentitions. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 20(1), 31-48.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11914892485880621750noreply@blogger.com0Casa Grande, AZ, USA32.8795022 -111.7573520999999932.6661587 -112.08007559999999 33.0928457 -111.4346286tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4071831961528467035.post-24079073204414298182015-07-28T07:41:00.004-07:002015-07-28T07:41:50.975-07:00Archosauriform Tooth - New Preprint<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As promised, I am back with more tooth news!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My students and I just published an updated version of our <a href="https://peerj.com/preprints/1110/" target="_blank">preprint</a> describing an unusual archosauriform tooth from the Chinle Formation of Comb Ridge. In this preprint we describe a small, serrated tooth that one of my student co-authors discovered as float in May of 2014. While this article is not peer-reviewed it was submitted for review last week with a few minor changes from the preprint. I caught a few things from my students I had missed before, like calling <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semionotiformes" target="_blank">semionotiform</a> fish tetrapods.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What is the significance of this tooth? In addition to it being the result of my <a href="http://prehistoricpub.blogspot.com/2015/07/my-students-need-your-help.html" target="_blank">high-school students</a>' fieldwork, this rather plain-looking tooth is somewhat unusual.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qu2zqsMCHhY/VbFVVqrRIVI/AAAAAAAABjo/SRaKI-ja5cY/s1600/MNA%2BV10668%2BFigure%2B3-1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qu2zqsMCHhY/VbFVVqrRIVI/AAAAAAAABjo/SRaKI-ja5cY/s400/MNA%2BV10668%2BFigure%2B3-1.png" width="228" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">MNA V10668. Image from Lopez et al., 2015. <b>A</b> lingual <b>B</b> labial <b>C</b> distal <b>D</b> mesial <b>E</b> apical <b>F</b> basal. Scale bar = 1 mm. <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" target="_blank">CC BY-4.0</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At first glance the tooth appears to be relatively nondescript. It is triangular in profile with a slight labial curvature (meaning the tip is deflected towards the center of the mouth). It isn't too wide at the base and is not recurved. All in all, a pretty standard tooth.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A further look at it tells a different story. When my students looked at it and compared it to other Triassic teeth they noticed several differences. It has more serrations on the distal carina than most of the other reported taxa from the Chinle. It is labiolingually compressed, much more than a phytosaur but much less than a dinosauromorph.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My prompt to the students was relatively simple; identify this tooth to the most exclusive group you can. My students spent lots of time describing and comparing MNA V10668. A couple of my students were very stressed out but came through with useful comparisons, as I mentioned above (and detail in the paper).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One thing that was not adequately done in the first draft of the manuscript was a comparison with phytosaurs. The students, including ones who didn't become authors, were either A) not very good at elucidating the similarities and differences between MNA V10668 and phytosaurs or B) didn't attempt to do so at all. This was a problem since no doubt any reviewer would immediately ask to see why we thought this tooth was different from phytosaur teeth. Now adult phytosaurs were easy to distinguish from: they are quite a bit larger than MNA V10668.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-EcLYVhv8D9g/VbF_jq_wJnI/AAAAAAAABj4/XYZ1MA6k4P8/s1600/Phytosaurs.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-EcLYVhv8D9g/VbF_jq_wJnI/AAAAAAAABj4/XYZ1MA6k4P8/s400/Phytosaurs.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8000001907349px;"><i>Machaeroprosopus</i> skulls at the New Mexico Museum of Natural History. <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/" target="_blank">CC-BY 2.0</a>, created by Lee Ruk. No scale is provided but the skull is certainly longer than 1 meter.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Distinguishing from juveniles created a different problem. Juvenile phytosaurs are not as well known; those that have been identified in collections are usually not mentioned or poorly described in the literature. Fortunately the MNA has two juvenile phytosaurs in their collections that helped me address that problem: PEFO 13890/MNA V1789, a paired set of juvenile premaxillae and MNA V3601, a terminal right dentary. Both have teeth and alveoli that are the right size to address the question of whether MNA V10668 came from a phytosaur.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8saMNuNQm8A/VbZOgGFbhsI/AAAAAAAABkQ/HkK8qGibAPU/s1600/Figure5.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="281" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8saMNuNQm8A/VbZOgGFbhsI/AAAAAAAABkQ/HkK8qGibAPU/s320/Figure5.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8000001907349px;"><div id="p-5" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 1.3em; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; word-wrap: break-word;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 1.5;">Juvenile phytosaur jaws. Top: PEFO 13890/MNA V1789, </span><i style="line-height: 1.5;">Macheroprosopus zunii</i><span style="line-height: 1.5;"> premaxillae in A) ventral view. Bottom: MNA V3601 right dentary in B) lateral C) dorsal views. Scale bar = 1 cm. </span><span style="line-height: 24px;">From Lopez et al. (2015),<a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" target="_blank"> CC-BY 4.0</a></span></span></div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">While these are not complete sets of dentition you can get a good idea as to what the teeth of juvenile phytosaurs would have looked like. Generally the bases were circular, not laterally compressed like MNA V10668. The teeth that are present in these specimens are all conical. Some, in MNA V3601, lack serrations. This allows us to feel reasonably certain that MNA V10668 doesn't come from a juvenile phytosaur. Our conclusions would be more solid if we had more preserved dentition from the posterior portion of the jaw, especially since this is the part of adult jaws that have teeth that look more like our specimen. None-the-less it is pretty clear that the juvenile jaws are less specialized than adults in their respective tooth positions - it seems reasonable to suggest that posterior teeth are also conical. This would also be in line with some modern archosaurs and their different juvenile/adult diets. Having conical teeth would help juvenile phytosaurs capture insects and other small prey while adults exhibit heterodonty, allowing them to efficiently process large prey items.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In any case, it appears pretty clear to my students (and myself) that MNA V10668 represents something other than a phytosaur. For that matter, it doesn't correspond to any other identified taxon from the Chinle Formation. Is it unique enough to name a new taxon off of? I don't think so. I admit this is a subjective call, but since the concept of a species in a paleontological sense is subjective anyway I don't see a problem there. In any case it is not like any other identified animal tooth from the Triassic of the southwest.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">References</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="self-citation-authors" style="line-height: 24px;">Lopez A, St. Aude I, Alderete D, Alvarez D, Aultman H, Busch D, Bustamante R, Cirks L, Lopez M, Moncada A, Ortega E, Verdugo C, Gay RJ.<span style="background-color: white;"> (</span></span><span class="self-citation-year" style="line-height: 24px;">2015</span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 24px;">) </span><span class="self-citation-title" style="line-height: 24px;">An unusual archosauriform tooth increases known tetrapod diversity in the lower Chinle Formation (Late Triassic) of southeastern Utah</span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 24px;">. </span><span itemprop="isPartOf" itemscope="itemscope" itemtype="http://schema.org/PublicationVolume" style="line-height: 24px;"><span class="self-citation-journal" itemprop="isPartOf" itemscope="itemscope" itemtype="http://schema.org/Periodical" style="font-style: italic;"><span itemprop="name">PeerJ PrePrints</span></span><span class="self-citation-volume" itemprop="volumeNumber">3</span></span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 24px;">:</span><span class="self-citation-elocation" itemprop="pageStart" style="line-height: 24px;">e1539<span style="background-color: white;"> </span></span><a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.7287/peerj.preprints.1110v2" itemprop="url" style="line-height: 24px; text-decoration: none;">https://dx.doi.org/10.7287/peerj.preprints.1110v2</a></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11914892485880621750noreply@blogger.com0Casa Grande, AZ, USA32.8795022 -111.7573520999999932.6661587 -112.08007559999999 33.0928457 -111.4346286tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4071831961528467035.post-52187281340953919792015-07-21T16:18:00.001-07:002015-07-21T16:18:11.911-07:00My Students Need Your HelpI'm going to cut right to the point here (in case the title didn't give it away). My students need your help. I know I am the goofy tooth blogger who writes about "Indominus rex" and little tiny teeth from the Triassic but the plain fact is that those little tiny teeth don't find themselves. In fact they like to stay hidden, the sneaky little fellows. My high school students in my paleontology program find the majority of them.<br />
<br />
In case you didn't read <a href="http://prehistoricpub.blogspot.com/2015/07/hello-and-introduction.html" target="_blank">my introduction post</a>, I teach at Mission Heights Preparatory High School and run the nation's only paleontology program at a public high school. I am pretty dang proud of it and my students. We have been doing this since March of 2014 and we already have <a href="https://peerj.com/articles/905/" target="_blank">one publication with one of my students</a>, another<a href="https://peerj.com/preprints/1110/" target="_blank"> pre-print ready to go to review with student lead authors</a>, and a student-led abstract accepted for presentation at the <a href="http://vertpaleo.org/Annual-Meeting/Home.aspx" target="_blank">75th Annual Society of Vertebrate Paleontology Annual Meeting</a> in Dallas this year. All very exciting stuff and it has all been predicated on the field work we have been doing in the Late Triassic Chinle Formation at Comb Ridge, Utah.<br />
<br />
In order to do this fieldwork, we have been relying on two things: rented vehicles, paid for by student fees and my personal truck. These two elements have allowed us to access field sites and bring back fossils to MHP but they have their drawbacks. Student fees create a burden on our students, especially in our low-income, rural community that we serve. Some of these students are classified as homeless. Most of our students are on free-and-reduced lunch, meaning that their annual family income qualifies them for government-provided school lunches. These are generally not kids who can afford a $75 fee to rent vehicles, get gas, and buy food. Several promising young scientists had to miss out on trips (and have since moved on from science all together) because their family lacked the means to support them in pursuing our fieldwork. This is a huge concern for me! I have trimmed by budget as much as possible but with the huge cost of renting vehicles for multiple days I cannot get my per-person cost down any lower for our regular spring fieldwork trips. If we care about having scientists accurately represent our society we should be concerned that low income students are dropping out of science because they feel they cannot participate.<br />
<br />
The second drawback is in relation to my personal vehicle. It is a 2004 Ford Explorer Sport Trac. It is a great vehicle and has served me well but it has 186,000 miles on it. I was working at a quarry in Utah with the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County last week and my truck malfunctioned. Now the fix was easy and relatively inexpensive, and since the crew had multiple vehicles they were not out of work while my truck was in the shop. My truck, however, was out of commission for a day and a half. On a multi-week trip this is not a huge deal but when we are working at Comb Ridge we are typically out for only two days. That is a huge blow! I was lucky enough to have my truck break down in Moab - that would certainly not happen with our Comb Ridge work since we rarely go into town. The nearest town, Bluff, also does not have a full-service auto repair facility and parts stores. In addition the NHMLA had multiple field vehicles available to get in and out of locations and haul gear. For our program we use my truck to haul all the gear and rented vehicles to haul all the students. If we had a breakdown with my truck in the field with students it could be a real disaster with no easy fix.<br />
<br />
That is why I am asking for help. <a href="http://www.gofundme.com/mskojc" target="_blank">I am trying to raise $8,000 for a field vehicle for MHP</a>. We have raised a bit over 1/8th of the total goal but we have a long way to go. I am hoping that if you care about students, paleontology, getting students involved in paleontology, or just creating a more science-literate society you will consider donating to our fundraiser. All money raised will go directly to the cost of a field vehicle or, if we are unable to purchase one, into renting field vehicles until the funds are depleted.<br />
<br />
If you like learning about teeth, that is where the teeth come from. And I have more tooth posts coming up soon!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11914892485880621750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4071831961528467035.post-54299457420078571172015-07-11T19:33:00.001-07:002015-07-11T19:33:27.209-07:00Bigger. Badder. More teeth?Okay, show of hands: who has seen <i>Jurassic World</i>? If you haven't seen it I promise this article won't be spoiler-filled. I promise I won't discuss plot points. In fact, I won't discuss anything that you can't see in the trailers. What I will discuss, though, is teeth!<br />
<br />
So if you have seen any of the promotional material for <i>Jurassic World</i> you know that the scientists have created a "genetically modified hybrid" named "Indominus rex." Leaving aside issues about genetic modification and dinosaurs in the Jurassic Park universe, one of the tag lines for this new animal was "Bigger. Louder. More teeth."<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-S3sGYipWnLs/VaGCTgUX1RI/AAAAAAAABho/99Ds-m2zLGI/s1600/indominus-rex-interstitial-0-0-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-S3sGYipWnLs/VaGCTgUX1RI/AAAAAAAABho/99Ds-m2zLGI/s320/indominus-rex-interstitial-0-0-1.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Jurassic World</i> promotional image. Image (C) <a href="http://www.jurassicworld.com/dinosaurs/indominus-rex/" target="_blank">Universal Studios</a>.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />Fair enough. From the trailers you know that Dr. Wu says, "She was designed to be...bigger than the <i>T. rex</i>." This also makes sense -<i>Tyrannosaurus</i> is obviously a super-cool animal and would be a big draw at an amusement park like Jurassic World. If you were setting out to make a world-beating attraction then you could do worse than to choose <i>T. rex</i>. While other theropods may have been larger, it is certainly the most charismatic and probably the most well known. So when they are saying that "Indominus" is bigger, louder, and has more teeth they are probably comparing her to <i>Tyrannosaurus</i>.<br />
<br />
There's just one problem with that. "Indominus" doesn't have more teeth that <i>T. rex</i>.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hgkAWr2SA0w/VaGSPqTQReI/AAAAAAAABh8/hmPmaguN0dU/s1600/Tarbosaurus_and_Tyrannosaurus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="169" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hgkAWr2SA0w/VaGSPqTQReI/AAAAAAAABh8/hmPmaguN0dU/s320/Tarbosaurus_and_Tyrannosaurus.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Skulls of <i>Tarbosaurus</i> (A) and <i>Tyrannosaurus</i> (B) by <a href="http://app.pan.pl/article/item/app48-161.html" target="_blank">Jørn H. Hurum and Karol Sabath</a> [<a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0" target="_blank">CC BY 2.0</a>], via Wikimedia Commons</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
As you can see, <i>Tyrannosaurus</i> has a combined total of 15 premaxillary and maxillary teeth. Now let's take a look at some of the promotional images and trailer stills from <i>Jurassic World</i>.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-x7EzdhEL8Xg/VaGcI--SN3I/AAAAAAAABiY/2SEgS_pfZQc/s1600/chris%2Bpratt%2Bunder%2Bcrane%2B2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-x7EzdhEL8Xg/VaGcI--SN3I/AAAAAAAABiY/2SEgS_pfZQc/s320/chris%2Bpratt%2Bunder%2Bcrane%2B2.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZMkc5jMRq8A/VaGgDHVytAI/AAAAAAAABi4/KR5BQL9UJYM/s1600/indominus%2Bpromo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZMkc5jMRq8A/VaGgDHVytAI/AAAAAAAABi4/KR5BQL9UJYM/s320/indominus%2Bpromo.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ar0bCV7Lltw/VaGcI4VCDXI/AAAAAAAABiQ/F5sy6-W7_Ps/s1600/chris%2Bpratt%2Bunder%2Bcrane.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ar0bCV7Lltw/VaGcI4VCDXI/AAAAAAAABiQ/F5sy6-W7_Ps/s320/chris%2Bpratt%2Bunder%2Bcrane.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bG9mJILh1zw/VaGcj2nAsHI/AAAAAAAABig/Y1U8rg_nNPI/s1600/Indominous.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="179" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bG9mJILh1zw/VaGcj2nAsHI/AAAAAAAABig/Y1U8rg_nNPI/s320/Indominous.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">All images (C) Universal Studios.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
How many teeth do you see? I count between nine to 11, depending on which motion-blurred image I'm using as reference. This is a situation different from, say David Peters, because in the case of "Indominus" there is no actual skull to do tooth counts with. Unfortunately I have to make do with images.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mKf0PJgmrCo/VaGeJDWNgFI/AAAAAAAABis/0N4RITk7CfI/s1600/chris%2Bpratt%2Bunder%2Bcrane%2B2-edited.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="222" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mKf0PJgmrCo/VaGeJDWNgFI/AAAAAAAABis/0N4RITk7CfI/s400/chris%2Bpratt%2Bunder%2Bcrane%2B2-edited.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Here is Chris Pratt under a vehicle in a still taken from a <i><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFCFefMQ2sQ&list=PL9qHkI9lVOHeyw0ZPnOuczrQPUKlewBrj&index=8" target="_blank">Jurassic World</a></i> trailer. I have numbered the teeth in the upper jaw (that I can make out), though the depth of field and motion blur make it difficult to be certain on their ID.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
So last time I checked 9 < 15. Even 11 < 15. The big, scary "Indominus" has fewer teeth than a <i>Tyrannosaurus</i>. Maybe they were referring to ornithomimosaurs when they were making their comparison? Who can say.<br />
<br />
Does this really matter? No, not really. Me nit-picking the strange, croc-toothed creation from <i>Jurassic World</i> doesn't change anything in the grand scheme of things. I just found it amusing that one of their promo points is in fact wrong. It doesn't impact how I feel about the movie, which I enjoyed. It shouldn't change how you feel about the movie.<br />
<br />
Want more <i>Jurassic World</i> teeth analysis? Join me next time here at the Prehistoric Pub when I try to figure out what the heck is going on with the "Indominus" dentition!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11914892485880621750noreply@blogger.com0Casa Grande, AZ, USA32.8795022 -111.7573520999999932.6661587 -112.08007559999999 33.0928457 -111.4346286tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4071831961528467035.post-49434862516086055322015-07-07T08:00:00.000-07:002015-07-07T08:00:07.240-07:00A Toothy IssueI am going to talk about teeth today. When I first knew I was going to get into paleontology I didn't think I would every really study teeth. I mean, teeth are neat and everything but I wanted to study dinosaurs! Dinosaurs, especially when I was younger, were mainly known for having relatively simple and easily-identifiable teeth that didn't tell us much besides diet. The only people who studied teeth were mammal paleontologists (which I foolishly looked down upon in my middle and high school years).<br />
<br />
Even as I progressed through college I didn't pay much attention to teeth. Sure there were some odd teeth known from the Triassic Period, like <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revueltosaurus" style="font-style: italic;" target="_blank">Revueltosaurus</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tecovasaurus" target="_blank"><i>Tecovasaurus</i></a>, but they were rare and the exception to the rule. I figured that they provided only marginal information on the ecosystem and that the major components were well known and understood - things like <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phytosaur" target="_blank">phytosaurs</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metoposauridae" target="_blank">metoposaurs</a>, <a href="http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/diapsids/pseudosuchia/aetosauria.html" target="_blank">aetosaurs</a>, and rare dinosaurs like <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coelophysis" target="_blank"><i>Coelophysis</i></a>. Well it turns out, unsurprisingly, that this view is naive and wrong.<br />
<br />
<span id="goog_166032798"></span><span id="goog_166032799"></span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/"></a>Some of this change has come about from the work of <a href="http://econtent.unm.edu/cdm/compoundobject/collection/bulletins/id/744/rec/10" target="_blank">Andy Heckert</a> in the early years of this century. Although his treatise on Chinle microvertebrates is somewhat out of date now (it was published by the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science in 2004) it helped establish that the diversity of animals living in western North America was much higher during the Triassic Period than people had previously suspected. In addition to naming new taxa like <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krzyzanowskisaurus" target="_blank"><i>Krzyzanowskisaurus</i></a>, <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protecovasaurus" target="_blank">Protecovasaurus</a>, </i>and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crosbysaurus" style="font-style: italic;" target="_blank">Crosbysaurus</a>, his PhD work showed many new tooth types from the Chinle Formation and Dockum Group that had never been reported in the scientific literature!<br />
<br />
Our work at Comb Ridge has focused on teeth. This is not because we set out to find lots of teeth. As with most things in paleontology you focus on what you find. At Comb Ridge we haven't found phytosaur skulls and troves of fossil fish like we do further north. We haven't found aetosaurs like in Arizona or mass graves of dinosaurs like in New Mexico. Instead we are finding teeth. Lots and lots of teeth. So many teeth that one locality, The Hills Have Teeth, may be the most productive microfossil site in Utah - it is certainly the most productive microsite in the Chinle of Utah. We have a dozen species represented, possibly more, from this one hill and they are all known from their teeth. So let's have a brief overview of tooth anatomy and terms so that it doesn't seem like I'm speaking gibberish in future posts.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ss0z5F6Xit0/VZt5FB7mmpI/AAAAAAAABQ8/aJNJATOxjsg/s1600/Tooth%2BAnatomy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ss0z5F6Xit0/VZt5FB7mmpI/AAAAAAAABQ8/aJNJATOxjsg/s320/Tooth%2BAnatomy.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Handy guide for some of the most common tooth terms I made based on an image from <a href="https://peerj.com/preprints/1110/" target="_blank">Lopez et al. (2015)</a>. Scale bar = 1 mm. CC-BY 4.0</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b><div style="text-align: center;">
<b><u>List of Dental Anatomical Terms and Definitions</u></b></div>
</b><div>
<ul>
<li><b>Apex </b>- the "top" or tip of a tooth; the portion furthest away from the gumline.</li>
<li><b>Apical </b>- a directional term, referring to things towards the apex.</li>
<li><b>Asymmetrical </b>- a tooth, viewed from the apex, that does not have the same profile on the lip-side as it does on the tongue-side.</li>
<li><b>Base </b>- the "bottom" of the tooth; the portion of the tooth at the gumline.</li>
<li><b>Basal </b>- a directional term, referring to things towards the gumline.</li>
<li><b>Carina </b>- a distinct ridge or edge, usually found along the leading or trailing edge of the tooth.</li>
<li><b>Cingulum </b>- a ridge, "waist", or "belt" of thickened enamel running around the tooth near the gumline.</li>
<li><b>Circular </b>- refers to a tooth that is circular in outline when viewed from the apex.</li>
<li><b>Conical </b>- a tooth that when viewed from the side has a roughly cone-shaped or pyramidal outline.</li>
<li><b>Crown </b>- the portion of the tooth from the gumline to the tip. What most people think of when they use the word "tooth."</li>
<li><b>Denticles </b>- triangular or angled protrusions along an edge used for cutting food. Can be angled towards the apex or facing perpendicular to the crown height. In some species these can be subdivided into smaller denticles.</li>
<li><b>Dentine </b>- the tough inner material that makes up most of a tooth. Very hard but not shiny.</li>
<li><b>Distal </b>- the part of the tooth facing the back of the mouth. In older literature this is sometimes referred to as "posterior."</li>
<li><b>Enamel </b>- the tough, shiny, outer surface of a tooth. A very hard material!</li>
<li><b>Infolding </b>- used to be commonly referred to as "labyrinthodont", which means "maze tooth." These are places on the tooth where the enamel is folded in towards the center of the tooth. It appears wrinkled.</li>
<li><b>Labial </b>- the side or portion of the tooth that faces the outside of the mouth. Labial literally means "lips."</li>
<li><b>Laterally compressed</b> - refers to a tooth that is much thinner "side to side" than it is "front to back" when viewed from the apex.</li>
<li><b>Lingual </b>- the side or portion of the tooth that faces the inside of the mouth. Lingual literally means "tongue."</li>
<li><b>Mesial </b>- - the part of the tooth facing the front of the mouth. In older literature this is sometimes referred to as "anterior."</li>
<li><b>Occlusal</b> - the surface, face, or point of the tooth that would rub against ("occlude") the opposite tooth from the opposite jaw. Sometimes used in place of apical when referring to a viewing angle.</li>
<li><b>Recurved </b>- a tooth that, when viewed from the side, has the back (distal) side curved inward, so that the edge looks like a half-moon.</li>
<li><b>Resorption pit</b> - a pit on the base of a tooth, showing where bone and dentine were reabsorbed by the animal to allow the tooth to be shed.</li>
<li><b>Root </b>- in animals with teeth set into sockets, the root is the dentine that extends below the gumline into the jaw to anchor the tooth.</li>
<li><b>Serrations </b>- like on a steak knife, these are small notches on the edge of a tooth for cutting or slicing food.</li>
</ul>
Okay, so there are a number of terms there but I think I've given the definitions in terms that aren't too hard to follow for the average person. Let me show a few examples of teeth so I can sort of show how these terms are used "in the real world."</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UCOjKd9BKnQ/VZuJGhFQ-EI/AAAAAAAABRM/WLXRfQ1n7ys/s1600/WIN_20150519_121933.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UCOjKd9BKnQ/VZuJGhFQ-EI/AAAAAAAABRM/WLXRfQ1n7ys/s320/WIN_20150519_121933.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Crosbysaurus</i> tooth. Scale distance = 1 mm.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The above picture is of part of a <i>Crosbysaurus</i> tooth from one of our sites at Comb Ridge. It shows <b>denticles</b>, the pointed cutting parts on the <b>distal</b> edge (or <b>carina</b>) of the tooth. Each of the pyramid-shaped structures has smaller bumps on them - these are the accessory denticles. This picture is in <b>labial</b> view.<div>
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-K0IIh_Fe63E/VZuJxg4OatI/AAAAAAAABRU/tLianzNfPvQ/s1600/WIN_20150603_155347.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-K0IIh_Fe63E/VZuJxg4OatI/AAAAAAAABRU/tLianzNfPvQ/s320/WIN_20150603_155347.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Crosbysaurus</i> tooth. Scale distance = 1 mm.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Here is another view of the same tooth. Here we are looking at the tooth in <b>mesial</b> view with the <b>apex</b> on the right and the <b>base</b> on the left. You can see a <b>resorption pit</b> at the base - it looks like the tooth is hollow. You can notice that this tooth is <b>laterally compressed</b> - it is much narrower than it is tall.<div>
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-P2_cJrsdw2Q/VZuKXasrCWI/AAAAAAAABRc/j_qvbLeqK6E/s1600/WIN_20150603_160301.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-P2_cJrsdw2Q/VZuKXasrCWI/AAAAAAAABRc/j_qvbLeqK6E/s320/WIN_20150603_160301.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Archosauriform tooth. Scale distance = 1 mm.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Last example. Here is an archosauriform tooth in <b>basal</b> view. The front of the mouth, or <b>mesial</b> side, would be towards the right while the back of the mouth, or <b>distal</b> side, is to the left. You can see in this view that the tooth is <b>asymmetrical</b> - the <b>labial</b> and <b>lingual</b> sides are not equal. This picture also gives a decent view of the <b>resorption pit</b> located in the middle of the <b>base</b> here. That tells us that this is a shed tooth <b>crown</b>.<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Thanks for making it through this! I know there were a lot of terms but I promise they will come in handy for many of my future posts. And now you can impress your dentist with your knowledge of dental terminology! The paleontology of teeth (Odontology) is not just for mammal paleontologists. All of this work with microfossils and Triassic teeth has certainly given me a new appreciation of how important these little things can be and what they can tell us about an ecosystem. Just what specifically can they tell us? That sounds like another blog post in its own right.</div>
<div>
<div>
<br /><div>
<br /><div>
<br /></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11914892485880621750noreply@blogger.com0Casa Grande, AZ, USA32.8795022 -111.7573520999999932.6661587 -112.08007559999999 33.0928457 -111.4346286tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4071831961528467035.post-5004099186960314052015-07-07T05:30:00.001-07:002015-07-07T05:47:08.041-07:00Tap Talk Tuesday with Dr. Phillip Manning!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4V_rp5dbfs4/TlcTCX7r74I/AAAAAAAAA3A/jjXWNW9gBTM/s1600/242319_156832777717167_100001713365139_387830_7793145_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></a></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
It's a rainy day out in the field, so while I wait for things to dry up around here, I thought I'd post an an interview. This interview however was from way back in 2011. The questions I asked pretty much set the standard for the questions I still ask today when interviewing. I have tweaked them over the years, but I came up with the following series of questions because it was what I wanted to know as a kid. The interviews I've given over the years have been wonderful. I appreciate the time that everyone has set aside to do them for me and I'm always thankful for the opportunity. OK, let's see what it's doing outside. I will report more soon from the field, but in the meantime, enjoy one of my first interviews below. Until later later everyone!</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-65jIj4PQZPM/UE5BpuipGSI/AAAAAAAAEk0/1_O_V4ac4Bo/s1600/242319_156832777717167_100001713365139_387830_7793145_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="238" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-65jIj4PQZPM/UE5BpuipGSI/AAAAAAAAEk0/1_O_V4ac4Bo/s400/242319_156832777717167_100001713365139_387830_7793145_o.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">For those of you who may not know, Dr. Phillip Manning is an internationally renowned paleontologist, fossil hunter and writer. He has taught vertebrate paleontology and evolution at the Universities of Liverpool and Manchester and currently heads the Paleontology Research Group in the School of Earth, Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences (SEAES) at the University of Manchester. Dr. Manning has published papers on many diverse subjects, including dinosaur tracks, theropod biomechanics, arthropod paleontology, vertebrate locomotion, and the evolution of flight in birds. Along with his long list of many accomplishments that continues to grow, Dr. Manning has also worked with National Geographic on an amazing series called <a href="http://natgeotv.com/uk/jurassic-csi" target="_blank"><i>Jurassic CSI</i></a>. </span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/AX8kW9nxLXw?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Dr. Manning has always been a hero of mine. On May 17, 2011, I finally got a chance to meet the good doctor in person at a lecture being given by Dr. Jack R. Horner at The Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia, PA. It was an absolute honor to meet such an educated gentleman in the field of paleontology. I only wish that I had my copy of <i>Grave Secrets of Dinosaurs</i> by Dr. Manning for him to autograph. I have fond memories of picking up this book when it first came out and never putting it down. I highly recommend picking it up. </span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-w0_n2LeBWBg/UD_Bywpxt4I/AAAAAAAAEAY/8yv52wFtCdg/s1600/book.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-w0_n2LeBWBg/UD_Bywpxt4I/AAAAAAAAEAY/8yv52wFtCdg/s400/book.jpg" width="372" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QA1iZaUHhms/TwzXrT4eTWI/AAAAAAAAC4c/BB6b-ZFtPQw/s1600/cover.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></a></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Upon meeting Dr. Manning, I was a nervous wreck, but his humbleness will quickly calm you down. He is a brilliant man, but also very down to earth. Passionate about his work and someone I admire greatly. I appreciate him taking the time to hangout and talk with me that night. I learned a lot. Not long after that awesome night of meeting Dr. Manning, we exchanged e-mails. I asked if he would be interested in doing an interview for my website and he graciously said yes! So, without further ado ladies and gentlemen, I give you our interview. Special thanks Dr. Phillip Manning. </span></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>You are one of my heroes in the field of paleontology. Who did you admire growing up?</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I watched Sir David Attenborough on TV whenever I could. The series 'Life on Earth' was quite life-changing for me...I realised we lived in a big world. I have to point out, I was about 7 years old, living in a village in rural Somerset...quite the middle of no-where, but beautiful! I have been lucky enough to meet and work with Sir David on a BBC series a few years ago and he was 'the real deal', a splendid gentlemen and a scholar.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>At what age did you get inspired to pursue a career in paleontology? </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">When I first moved to Somerset aged about 6 or 7, I discovered I had Lower Jurassic (Lias) fossil in my own garden. That's when it started proper. However when I was aged 5, i visited the British Museum of Natural History in London, now called the Natural History Museum. Stood before me was the mount of Andrew Carnegie's <i>Diplodocus</i>...wow...that also had a major 96 feet impact on a very small child.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>What was your favorite dinosaur growing up? What dinosaur is your favorite now?</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I had two favourites as a child, and yes...you can probably guess them both...<i>Triceratops</i> and T. rex. I am sooooooo grateful to have been able to find both these dinosaurs in the Hell Creek Formation now. In recent years I have grown very fond of <i>Archaeopteryx</i>....and hope to publish another paper on this beastie soon!</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Paleontology is such a diverse field these days involving many disciplines. What advice would you give to an aspiring paleontologist today?</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">My advice is simple, choose the subjects which you most enjoy, as it will be these in which you have most chance to excel. There is no single route into palaeontology, which I know is some folks chosen career path. Many of my palaeo colleagues come from both arts and science background...like myself, others are pure science and some are pure art. The key here, is I took a path that was dictated by no one. If there is a 1+1=2 path to palaeo, I'm afraid i do not know it, as thankfully we are all very different. Darwin made a point of celebrating variation within a single species :-) and we are no exception to this rule. To put it another way, there is no 'one size fits all' route for me to advise any budding bone-hunters out there. This is probably a good thing. </span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-30KhbiOVf2E/UD_BzOnBXaI/AAAAAAAAEAc/1MSU1bffOZI/s1600/Phil_Manning.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="205" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-30KhbiOVf2E/UD_BzOnBXaI/AAAAAAAAEAc/1MSU1bffOZI/s400/Phil_Manning.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">However, If a person has a specific university course in mind, then I urge them to look at the entry requirements now...as this will be an affective gatekeeper after High School. If you have your heart set on being a palaeontologist, you have already taken the most important step. There are few places you can learn passion for a subject, as that is something only a few are gifted with at an early age. It seems that many such folks are also 'one' of the lucky ones.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Going to college these days and then on to grad school has become a daunting task. Many people are unaware of how long it takes to make it to the finish line. The rewards are great, but what would you say to someone pursuing professional studies after college?</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">This is a very tough question, as here I should put-on my 'professor hat' and spout the virtues University and grad school...however, like I said before...we are all very different. Some folks are terrible scientists and do not enjoy the rigours of academia, this is fine...it would be a strange world if we all ended up as 'Dr'. Some of the best field palaeontologists and great thinkers of the field did not have a formal college education. This is fine, many 'trained' academics have a tough time keeping up with 'amateur' enthusiasts. The 9 or 10 years it takes to scratch your way through 1st degree, masters and PhD can and usually is, very tough. I did it, but many do not complete their studies. I have to admit, that doing my MSc and PhD was certainly the hardest things I have done in my life.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>What was or is your favorite research project? What are some of your current projects?</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Some of my favourite projects have involved digging-up dinosaurs on the Isle of Wight. I was lucky enough to help excavate the then un-named, <i>Neovenator</i> from the Lower Cretaceous back in 1989. It was more of a mud-bath than an excavation, as the Wessex Formation from whence it came is a tad sticky. This reminds me of my favourite joke! 'What's brown and sticky?.................a stick :-).....sorry!! My most recent projects have been involved with working on the Stanford Synchrotron, a particle accelerator than can generate super-intense x-rays that allows us to analyse the chemistry of fossils. We have mapped 120 million year old pigment patterns in Chinese fossil birds and even gotten a whiff of pigment in the famous <i>Archaeopteryx</i>....this work continues.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>Jurassic Park</i> was the movie I remember as a kid that fueled my passion for dinosaurs. What was your most memorable movie?</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I have to admit, <i>Jurassic Park</i> was quite a fun romp. I watched the UK premiere, as was studying for my Masters at the University of Manchester at the time. However, my favourite film...is not a palaeo-one, but <i>Lord of the Rings</i>....which I am sure will be overtaken by <i>The Hobbit</i> when that is released.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>I remember meeting my first professional paleontologist. Do you remember the first paleontologist you ever met? Were you a nervous wreck? </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">That's another tough question, as I was lucky enough to be taught Geology at school, so had an early intro to the field. However, when I was about about 11 years old I visited the local Museum in the ancient city of Wells (Somerset). I had some fossils that I needed identifying, as I was sure I had found a Lower Jurassic vertebra from a marine reptile....which it turned-out I had! Well's Museum is a strange little place (seemed huge to me then) and the Curator had an apartment in the Museum (strange, funny, odd, but what a great job!). I remember knocking on his door and then sitting down at a small table with my fossils finds. I honestly can't remember if I was worried or not...I think that happens when your much older. Most kids are fearless...I could do with some of that 'fearless' every now and then in my field of work.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Dinosaurs and the animals that lived at the same time as them were amazing creatures. Why do you feel dinosaurs continue to fascinate us?</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Dinosaurs are the ultimate 'safe' monsters. They are well and truly extinct, but 'monsters they be'...The sheer size and weirdness of these beasties never ceases to gob-smack me every time I see a new specimen.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>What is your favorite time period?</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The years from 1800 to 1860. This was an age of discovery. Here the world changed forever, from an Earth that was perceived to be 6000 years old and created by the hand of God, to an Earth of immense age inhabited by species that have evolved through the natural selective processes of 'decent with modification; into the 'endless forms most beautiful' to paraphrase good old Darwin. The foundations of 'modern geology' and the underpinning of palaeontology was also achieved in this period of time...it must have been a very exciting intellectual landscape in which to romp.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>The time span in which the dinosaurs lived in was huge. How do paleontologists remember all that information from such a vast era? Do paleontologist focus on one particular subject?</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">We do not remember, those who say they do....are being economic. We use books, like anyone else, to brush-up on our knowledge as and when required. With the advent of the internet, we can now fact-check things and publish papers ever faster than before...which can be a pain in the rear sometimes, as many papers that should not be published...are!</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Project Dryptosaurus has been my passion for as long as I could remember. Why do you feel <i>Dryptosaurus</i> is such an important dinosaur?<span style="color: lime;"> </span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span style="color: lime;"><br /></span></b></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Dryptosaurus</i> is a curious beastie in many ways. I have to be honest, I prefer Cope's name <i>Laelaps</i>, but this is sadly no longer valid :-( We have the lovely Tom Holtz to blame for that...thanks Tom ;-) However, we can thank Tom for bringing your beastie into the hallowed realm of the tyrannosaurs...woof! Any late Cretaceous large theropod excites folks...especially if they are the kin of T. rex. Here we have one of the worlds oldest discovered big predators from the Late Cretaceous, slap bang near some of the biggest human population centres in North America...we should know more about <i>Dryptosaurus</i> than T. rex!</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Works Cited:</span><br />
<div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: inherit;"></span></div>
<div style="color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: left;">
<a href="http://www.seaes.manchester.ac.uk/aboutus/staff/staffprofile.php?id=158" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Dr.Phil Manning (School of Earth, Atmospheric and Enviormental Science - The University of Manchester). Web.10 Jan. 2012</span></a></div>
Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4071831961528467035.post-9944802166200106352015-07-06T17:56:00.003-07:002015-07-07T04:53:51.531-07:00'Tis the season for digging Triassic beasts! Part 1<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
Today we set out for the badlands of New Mexico and had a rather productive first day. It was a scenic drive and as you get further out, civilization begins to disappear in your rear view mirror. On our way, we enjoyed a wonderful geology lesson via Dr. Axel and also fancied our new field vehicle! Yup, you heard right, we now have a new truck. Complete with air conditioning! Our last truck was very old and has been put out to pasture. I will miss that suburban. She was a good ride and I will always have fond memories of her.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MckwY3l-QOs/VZsFfFN44GI/AAAAAAAAfqk/Nn7-u-BrirA/s1600/905935_1460917557561869_1082245524470457844_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MckwY3l-QOs/VZsFfFN44GI/AAAAAAAAfqk/Nn7-u-BrirA/s400/905935_1460917557561869_1082245524470457844_o.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our old truck.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2NB2sFjBZTE/VZsFo9n7SqI/AAAAAAAAfq0/GAuix_mttFI/s1600/IMG_2041.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2NB2sFjBZTE/VZsFo9n7SqI/AAAAAAAAfq0/GAuix_mttFI/s400/IMG_2041.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The new Beast!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-k_fFjKms-bo/VZsHMHtTpoI/AAAAAAAAfrw/NRtFMEpPxI4/s1600/IMG_2045.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-k_fFjKms-bo/VZsHMHtTpoI/AAAAAAAAfrw/NRtFMEpPxI4/s400/IMG_2045.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">On our way into the field.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I was up at 5AM and waited to get picked up by the good doctor. He was there right on the tick as always and soon we were on our way to the museum to load up. There we would meet up with the others. Loading up the trucks is the first important thing we need to do. You definitely don't want to forget anything or you will be up a Triassic creek without a paddle!<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-8UWQPYOiSdE/VZsNp74SVgI/AAAAAAAAfsg/L1QtG6twk9E/s1600/IMG_2036.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-8UWQPYOiSdE/VZsNp74SVgI/AAAAAAAAfsg/L1QtG6twk9E/s320/IMG_2036.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Getting the lab ready the night before for when we return.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span id="goog_52444382"></span></div>
The first day in the field is usually comprised of uncovering the site and getting organized. Sometimes you have specimens in the ground that could not be taken out during the last class or field season. That being the case, these finds need to be tended to ASAP in order to get them out safe. After a brief lecture, we set out around the site to secure any finds that were left behind. Specimens left behind are wrapped in plaster casts or covered with tarps to keep them safe from the harsh elements of the desert. Along with uncovering the finds, we all have the pleasure of unloading the equipment we will be using for the time we are at the site.<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-sHFMRb1JHAQ/VZsN4ggnAsI/AAAAAAAAfso/LeHNIHAoCD0/s1600/IMG_2087.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-sHFMRb1JHAQ/VZsN4ggnAsI/AAAAAAAAfso/LeHNIHAoCD0/s400/IMG_2087.JPG" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tarp covering important specimens from last field class.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
The first day is mostly about prepping the site, but just by prospecting around, you can see evidence of what this area once looked like. Fish! Yes, fish scales, fish parts, and lots of fish fossils liter the quarry floor. They tend to look exploded, but overall they are very beautiful to look at. They are a perfect fossil in which to gauge what the area must of been like during the Late Triassic.</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zVTR4qbYRdg/VZsPc3dNsgI/AAAAAAAAfs0/a_drdGCpWU4/s1600/IMG_2120.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zVTR4qbYRdg/VZsPc3dNsgI/AAAAAAAAfs0/a_drdGCpWU4/s400/IMG_2120.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fish fossil. Notice the beautiful scales.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: left;">
At our locality, fossils we find are sometimes found on the surface. Trace fossils are often seen in the area. Gretchen, our museum director, found a gorgeous example. A trace fossil is an imprint of a specimen. Dinosaur tracks are good examples of trace fossils. Plants, insects, and other types of organisms can leave fossilized imprints for us to find. Below are a few examples of burrows found in the area. These are trace fossils that have become very prevalent in recent field seasons.</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PZOwK8CEkDA/VZsRr2aIHEI/AAAAAAAAftM/-0ey2UqDyx0/s1600/IMG_2113.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PZOwK8CEkDA/VZsRr2aIHEI/AAAAAAAAftM/-0ey2UqDyx0/s400/IMG_2113.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Burrows from an overturned piece of mud stone.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pdYQetzZR80/VZsQTrtw-KI/AAAAAAAAftA/43wqaAx4jzI/s1600/IMG_2084.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pdYQetzZR80/VZsQTrtw-KI/AAAAAAAAftA/43wqaAx4jzI/s400/IMG_2084.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gorgeous piece found by Gretchen.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: left;">
You can also find bone material out on the surface at times. While unwrapping a site we call Bravo West, Gretchen our museum director found a small bone. Finds that are found out and about are sometimes labeled as a "Float." Float meaning we don't know for sure where the fossil might have come from. A good example would be a couple of turtle shell pieces I found while prospecting about. Way above our dig site is a formation from the Pleistocene. In seasons past, large turtle shells have been found at the base of the cliff side. Now, where is the source of these pieces? That is yet to be discovered!</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-o95HjdLfY58/VZsX_u2MreI/AAAAAAAAfto/4TkVj0_luq0/s1600/IMG_2093.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-o95HjdLfY58/VZsX_u2MreI/AAAAAAAAfto/4TkVj0_luq0/s400/IMG_2093.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Small bone found by Gretchen while uncovering Bravo West.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-rFNLWHSfjcg/VZsaQNbYO6I/AAAAAAAAft0/tSSsK34NcF0/s1600/IMG_2142.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-rFNLWHSfjcg/VZsaQNbYO6I/AAAAAAAAft0/tSSsK34NcF0/s400/IMG_2142.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Turtle shell pieces that were transported down a steep hill.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Out in the field, you sometimes encounter wildlife. While it is rare to spot something like a wild boar or mountain lion, little creatures scamper about. I was lucky enough to get up, close, and personal with a Collard Lizard. He was very calm as I approached him. Probably doesn't get many Jersey Boys bothering him, so he let my presence slide. No spiders thank the maker! I am terrified of Tarantulas. Hopefully I don't encounter any this field season.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Rp7lGeGI2Ek/VZscCPTP9aI/AAAAAAAAfuA/y3ZqKr8qZV0/s1600/IMG_2104.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Rp7lGeGI2Ek/VZscCPTP9aI/AAAAAAAAfuA/y3ZqKr8qZV0/s400/IMG_2104.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dzUVRrxLkegUOsm88GQ8FHtVK91bMygCo7SrjOvpFJfuAOyhKYuGtQgtGPgoTXdydCWgOnzKpULgviVqrfeow' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
I really enjoyed our first day in the field. Always something new and exciting to learn. I had a productive first day and so did our team! We have a great group this year as always and we all made fantastic discoveries. All this on the first day! Not far from where I am currently working, the previous field team uncovered a phytosaur mandible! It will take some time to get out, but it looks sweet! The first thing I uncovered was a tooth. Right under it was a vertebrae. These two items remain as it is pouring rain outside. The weather outside is pretty nasty at the moment. In all my years coming out here, I have never seen the weeds so high from all the rain. Everything I found was located several centimeters below the quarry floor. My best find of the day was a piece of a phytosaur skull! A decent size too! We shall see what tomorrow brings. </div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LI1q_Fx9RrM/VZsfqGcaRDI/AAAAAAAAfuM/7UNqly_iGnQ/s1600/IMG_2119.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LI1q_Fx9RrM/VZsfqGcaRDI/AAAAAAAAfuM/7UNqly_iGnQ/s400/IMG_2119.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tooth I found.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-RYJPKBfoixY/VZsfsRhL1RI/AAAAAAAAfuU/RlathSszptY/s1600/IMG_2116.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-RYJPKBfoixY/VZsfsRhL1RI/AAAAAAAAfuU/RlathSszptY/s400/IMG_2116.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">Looking good, but not the smartest field gear to wear out in the desert. This was during the cool morning.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: left;">
I mentioned yesterday that I would be posting live from the field. Well, by live I mean whenever I get a chance ha ha. As things progress, I will be limited on time, but I will post whenever I can from out here! Until next time, have a great night everyone.</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Le9-yR8z4Do/VZsgOYKICSI/AAAAAAAAfuc/Ou96-Tj3eBs/s1600/IMG_2130.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Le9-yR8z4Do/VZsgOYKICSI/AAAAAAAAfuc/Ou96-Tj3eBs/s400/IMG_2130.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fossil of a fresh water clam Dr. Axel found while examining my phytosaur skull.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
</div>
Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4071831961528467035.post-39638011988067957372015-07-05T22:48:00.001-07:002015-07-05T22:48:48.215-07:00Hello and IntroductionHowdy all!<br />
I'm new to the team here at the Prehistoric Pub and to blogging in general. I figured I would introduce myself to you all and let you get to know me!<br />
I'm Rob Gay and I am a paleontologist in Arizona. Ever since I was a kid I have loved dinosaurs and other prehistoric wildlife and knew that this is what I wanted to be. Flash forward to the present and here I am - living the dream as it were.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ecaAgdSx7Ms/VZoRGQmZ1aI/AAAAAAAABQY/7AB_Zui185c/s1600/20150609_092656.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ecaAgdSx7Ms/VZoRGQmZ1aI/AAAAAAAABQY/7AB_Zui185c/s320/20150609_092656.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Here's me, contemplating the dream.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
My research has focused on the Late Triassic and Early Jurassic of the Colorado Plateau (you can look at some of my publications <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=wscT4R4AAAAJ&hl=en" target="_blank">here</a>). I am particularly interested in how the terrestrial faunas of what is now the American Southwest were structured 50 million years after the Permo-Triassic extinction (the largest in the history of the world) and how this structure changed and adapted to the "new world" of the Jurassic after the Triassic-Jurassic extinction.<br />
<br />
I am currently engaged in several projects related to this overall line of research. I am doing a study on collections biases in the Kayenta Formation to see how our view of this ecosystem may be skewed. This may in turn impact our understanding of how these <a href="http://figshare.com/articles/A_hypothesized_vertebrate_food_web_for_the_Early_Jurassic_Sinemurian_Pliensbachian_Kayenta_Formation_in_northern_Arizona/1219372" target="_blank">ecosystems actually functioned</a>. This might seem a minor point but if we want to see how biological systems recover from extinction then we need to know what the systems actually looked like and how they functioned.<br />
<br />
I also have been working for several years now in the Chinle Formation of southeastern Utah, both with a team from the St. George Dinosaur Discovery Site at Johnson Farm and the Natural History Museum, as well as with a team from my <a href="http://figshare.com/articles/A_public_high_school_paleontology_program_creating_embedded_learning_opportunities_for_students_by_flipping_outreach_on_its_head/1222853" target="_blank">high school paleontology program - the only one at a public school in the country.</a> The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinle_Formation" target="_blank">Chinle Formation</a> is well known in Arizona (at the Petrified Forest) and in New Mexico (at places like Ghost Ranch) for the amazing variety of life from the dawn of the age of dinosaurs. Utah is also well known for its prehistoric life, but the Late Triassic Period has been rather underrepresented. Between work in Lisbon Valley and at Comb Ridge we are starting to piece together just what this area looked like 203 million years ago. We have identified <a href="https://peerj.com/preprints/1110/" target="_blank">new and unusual</a> types of reptiles as well as documenting the presence of a plant-eating crocodile-like reptile known as <a href="https://peerj.com/articles/905/" target="_blank"><i>Crosbysaurus</i></a>. In the case of <i>Crosbysaurus</i>, this is the first time it has been reported from the state of Utah.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Oz_hYvkK7wk/VZoTHSzU-MI/AAAAAAAABQk/bn31l0vhZnE/s1600/Figure%2B5-4.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="265" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Oz_hYvkK7wk/VZoTHSzU-MI/AAAAAAAABQk/bn31l0vhZnE/s320/Figure%2B5-4.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;">The tooth of <i>Crosbysaurus</i> from Comb Ridge. <span style="background-color: white; line-height: 21.5999984741211px; text-align: start;">Abbreviations: Ap, apex; DD, distal denticles; MD, mesial denticles; RP, resorption pit. Scale = 1 mm.</span><span style="background-color: #f6f6f6; line-height: 21.5999984741211px; text-align: start;"> </span>Image is from Gay and St. Aude (2015), CC-BY 4.0</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I am very pleased with our Comb Ridge work in general because it is all with my high school students. They get a chance to experience real-world hands-on science by being involved in all aspects of vertebrate paleontology - including publication! I know I will blog a lot more about this in the future so I won't belabor it here!<br />
<br />
In addition to all of my paleontology work I am also a dog-parent of two awesome beasts. I like playing video games. I enjoy craft beers; I am on a saison kick right now due to it being summer, but IPAs are my thing generally. I'm looking forward to letting more people know about my students' research, my research, and generally interacting with folks on here. Cheers!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11914892485880621750noreply@blogger.com0Casa Grande, AZ, USA32.8795022 -111.7573520999999932.6661587 -112.08007559999999 33.0928457 -111.4346286