Second Major Dinosaur Fossil from Alberta in a Month

Residents of Leduc, a town approximately eighty miles north of Drumheller (Alberta) and just about ten miles to the south of the Province’s capital Edmonton, have found themselves very much on the palaeontological map of Canada with the discovery of duck-billed dinosaur fossils.  Construction workers from a company called Degner Construction, who were digging a trench as part of the ground works for a new housing development, uncovered the dinosaur remains, believed to be Hypacrosaurus.

Dinosaur Fossil

Experts from Drumheller’s Royal Tyrrell Museum were despatched to confirm the discovery.  This is the second major dinosaur fossil find in about a month from Alberta, as in October, Everything Dinosaur reported the discovery of the tail of another duck-billed dinosaur (hadrosaur), on that occasion by a team of construction workers building a pipeline.

To read more about the October discovery: Pipeline Workers Find Dinosaur Fossils.

Articulated Hadrosaur Fossils

The fossils, some of which are articulated, are lying approximately six metres below the surface, a preliminary examination has revealed the presence of caudal vertebrae (tail bones) and part of the pelvic girdle.

Heather Klimchuk, the Minister of Alberta Culture commented:

“This tremendous find will give us an event greater insight into the dinosaurs that lived in central Alberta.  Alberta’s ability to be successful in preserving and protecting valuable palaeontological resources depends on the co-operation of industry as well as the general public.  Degner Construction is to be commended for recognising and taking the right steps to alert the Royal Tyrrell Museum.”

With the Museum staff supervising, the construction crew were able to use a large excavator to carefully remove topsoil and some of the overlying rock.  Then with great care, the block of sediment containing the fossil remains was removed and transported back to Drumheller for study.

Block Containing Fossils Safely Removed

Leduc’s Deputy Mayor, David Mackenzie stated:

“Leduc will now be acknowledged in the natural history of Alberta in a significant way and we’re pleased future generations of Albertans can benefit from this exciting discovery.”

There is nothing like a major dinosaur fossil discovery to put a place firmly on the map.  Many of the Province’s construction projects will be closed down shortly with the onset of the harsh Canadian winter.

A Hadrosaur Fossil Skeleton on Display (Edmontosaurus)

Duck-billed dinosaur on display similar to the fossils found by the construction workers. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

For models and replicas of Albertan dinosaurs including hadrosaurs: CollectA Deluxe Prehistoric Life Scale Replicas.

However, 2013 has proved to be a great year for the Royal Tyrrell Museum with a number of significant dinosaur fossil finds, perhaps more this year than in other year of the Museum’s twenty-eight years existence.

Once the fossils have been properly cleaned and prepared, it is likely that some elements of the Leduc find will be able to go on show in the Museum’s ornithischian galleries.

Lythronax argestes – New Species of Tyrannosaurid from Southern Utah

An amazing new species of tyrannosaurid has been put on display at the Natural History Museum of Utah (Salt Lake City, Utah).  Fossils of this fearsome predator have been excavated from the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in southern Utah.  Elements of the skull, jaws and part of the hip indicate an animal approximately eight metres in length.  The fossils come from the middle member of the Wahweap Formation and have been dated to approximately 80 million years ago (Middle Campanian faunal stage).

“King of Gore”

This new member of the tyrannosaurid family has been named Lythronax argestes, the creatures’ wide and powerful skull indicate that it was a formidable predator, the genus name means “King of Gore” and the species name is taken from the Greek Homeric wind that blows from the south-west, a reference to the location of the fossil find within North America.  The geographical location of this fossil find, has helped palaeontologists to propose a new theory regarding the evolutionary diversification of the tyrannosaurids of the Late Cretaceous.  It seems the origins of the likes of Tyrannosaurus rex and Tarbosaurus bataar may be somewhat more provincial than previously thought.

Lythronax argestes

An analysis of the skull of L. argestes indicates that this particular tyrannosaur most likely comes from branch of the Tyrannosauridae that includes T. rex.  The snout is short, but stout with the posterior part of the skull quite wide.  The orientation and relative position of the orbits suggest powerful stereoscopic vision.  Until, this dinosaur was described, palaeontologists had thought that this wide-skulled form of tyrannosaurid only evolved during the very last few million years of the Dinosauria (Maastrichtian faunal stage).  Unfortunately, fossilised remains of the forelimbs have not been found to date, so scientists can only speculate on the forelimb proportions and the ratio of upper arm bones to lower arm bones and the digits.  The only limb material excavated from the site so far represent elements from the lower left leg.

To view the CollectA Prehistoric Life model collection in stock at Everything Dinosaur: CollectA Prehistoric Life Models and Figures.

Collaborative Authors

The study, funded in large part by the Bureau of Land Management and the National Science Foundation, was led by Dr Mark Loewen, research associate at the Natural History Museum of Utah, and adjunct assistant professor in the Department of Geology and Geophysics at the University of Utah.   Additional collaborative authors who worked on this analysis which also covered fossils of another slightly later tyrannosaur called Teratophoneus curriei,  include Dr Randall Irmis (Natural History Museum of Utah and Deparment of Geology and Geophysics, University of Utah), Dr Joseph Sertich (Denver Museum of Nature and Science).  Also involved were Dr Philip Currie (University of Alberta), and Dr Scott Sampson (Denver Museum of Nature & Science).

Reconstructing the Skeletons of Two of Utah’s Tyrannosaurs

Picture credit: PLoS One/Loewen et al

 Teratophoneus curriei

T. curriei is known from more complete fossil material which includes elements from the skull, upper jaw, vertebrae and the hip girdle.  This dinosaur was officially named and described in 2011.  It was an agile, cursorial predator, perhaps approaching six metres in length.  The genus name translates as “monstrous murderer”, the species name honours Philip Currie.  Teratophoneus curriei is known from Upper Campanian aged strata (Kaiparowits Formation), of southern Utah, it is a later tyrannosaur, having lived approximately 76 million years ago.  Both types of tyrannosaur lived on the huge, isolated landmass that comprises today’s western parts of North America.  This landmass is known as Laramidia.

For much of the Cretaceous, North America was split into several landmasses, by the formation of the Western Interior Seaway.  Recent studies of the Dinosaurian palaeo-communities that made up the fauna of Laramidia suggest that this part of the world was a hot bed for dinosaur evolution, with many regions supporting their own distinct dinosaur genera.  Different parts of Laramidia had similar types of Ornithischian dinosaur but there were differences at the genera level.  A lot of debate has taken place over the last couple of years as to why this arrangement of speciation may have come about.

North America During the Late Cretaceous

Picture Credit: Dr Ron Blakey of Colorado Plateau Geosystems, Inc

To read an article that looks at the distribution of horned dinosaurs on Laramidia: A Surge in Mountain Building May Have Caused Laramidia’s Unique Dinosaur Faunas.

Studying Tyrannosaurids

The work of this research team also indicates that the branch of the tyrannosaurids that led to the evolution of Tyrannosaurus rex most likely evolved in relative isolation on the southern portions of Laramidia.   Just like with the ornithischian dinosaurs, where plant-eating dinosaurs from the southern part of Laramidia differed from those species found in the northernmost areas, the tyrannosaurids show a similar pattern.  Lythronax argestes and its relatives from southern Laramidia are more closely related to each other than the long-snouted tyrannosaurs known from the northern areas of the landmass.

Dr Joseph Sertich, (Denver Museum of Nature and Science), a co-author of the scientific paper that has just been published in the online, academic journal PLoS One, explained:

“Lythronax may demonstrate that tyrannosaurs followed a pattern similar to what we see in other dinosaurs from this age, with different species living in the north and south at the same time.”

In contrast to the research undertaken into the distribution of ornithischian genera, the researchers suggest that mountain building may not have formed the physical barrier that led to the relative isolation of tyrannosaurs that encouraged such speciation and the evolution into a number of different Late Cretaceous forms.  For them, rising sea levels may provide the answer.

Dr Randall Irmis, another co-author of this fascinating study, pointed out that by examining  the evolutionary relationships, geologic age, and geographic distribution of tyrannosaurid dinosaurs on Laramidia a link can be proposed between tyrannosaurid diversification and the incursion of the Western Interior Seaway.  Large parts of Laramidia would have been flooded, leaving isolated islands of dinosaurs, allowing different species of dinosaurs to evolve separated from other groups.  A similar example can be taken from the Galapagos Islands of the Pacific, where different species of animal have evolved from a shared, common ancestor, after many thousands of years of separation.

Sea Level Change and the Timing of the Diversification of the Tyrannosauridae

Picture credit: PLoS One/Loewen et al.

As the Seaway retreated, exposing more land, these differences in the local faunas could have been exacerbated by climatic variations, differences in prey components and the flora.  This hypothesis helps to explain why the iconic Late Cretaceous dinosaurs of western North America are so different from those of the same age on other continents.  tyrannosaurs may have originated in Asia, but it seems that the most famous of them all, Tyrannosaurus rex has its roots in the “good ole southern USA”.

The scientific paper: “Tyrant Dinosaur Evolution Tracks the Rise and Fall of Late Cretaceous Oceans” by Mark A. Loewen, Randall B. Irmis, Joseph J. W. Sertich, Philip J. Currie and Scott D. Sampson published in PLoS One.

Suffolk Man Finds Out About Pliosaur Fossils at the Bottom of His Garden

It pays to keep a sharp look out when working in the garden, as you never know what might turn up when digging.  For example, a strange object discovered in 1997 when builders were digging a trench in the garden of Suffolk resident John Lambert, has turned out to be a fossilised bone from a giant, carnivorous marine reptile.

The village of Tuddenham St Martin, approximately two miles north-east of Ipswich (in the county of Suffolk, East Anglia, UK), may have had very little in common with the Jurassic coast until now and John remained unaware of the significance of his discovery until he took it along to the Colchester and Ipswich Museum to have it examined some sixteen years after the unusually shaped object was found.

Pliosaur Fossil

Mr Lambert, a retired banker, had thought his discovery might have been something very exciting, but he just never got round to getting the specimen checked over by a fossil expert,  that was, until last month.  The fossil is most probably a humerus (upper arm bone) from a large type of marine reptile known as a pliosaur.  It is not possible to identify the genus from a single bone such as this, but one thing is for sure, it was a large animal for the bone measures 42 centimetres in length.

Pliosaurs, otherwise known as short-necked plesiosaurs had large skulls and enormous jaws armed with long, triangular or conical teeth.  They propelled their streamlined bodies through the water using four paddle-like limbs.  Just how big some of these pliosaurs could have been is open to speculation, although recent discoveries such as the Svalbard specimen, or the remains of the jaws and skull of pliosaur found in Dorset indicate that some species could have grown to lengths easily in excess of fifteen metres.

These creatures had their heyday in the Jurassic, survived into the Cretaceous but become increasingly rare in the fossil record towards the end of the Mesozoic.

An Illustration of a Typical Jurassic Pliosaur

Apex predator of the Jurassic.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

Liopleurodon

The genus known as Liopleurodon (the name means “smooth-sided tooth”), is illustrated in the picture above.  It has the typically massive jaws and powerful flippers of this family of reptiles.  Some of the teeth in the lower jaw measured nearly twice the size of an adult T. rex tooth.  A number of scientists have estimated that these creatures may have had some of the strongest bites of any known vertebrate.

Ann Ainsworth, assistant curator of natural history at the Colchester and Ipswich Museum, commented that the fossil was in very good condition, however, she stated:

“Marine reptiles are not animals you would expect to find as fossils in Suffolk as the local rocks are not the right age.”

So the question is, how did the fossil end up buried in a Suffolk garden?

Ann has suggested that the fossil “could have been collected by someone else previously and left in the garden.”

This is very plausible, as fossils do turn up in some very strange places.  For instance, last year Everything Dinosaur wrote a short blog article about a Frenchman who discovered a dinosaur’s foot bone in his garden.  Back in 2011, Everything Dinosaur reported on the discovery of an iguanodontid dinosaur bone turning up in Sunderland (north-east England).

To read more about the Sunderland fossil find: Strange Place to Find a Dinosaur Bone.

A Result of Deposition

Another explanation put forward by the researchers at the museum and one that Everything Dinosaur team members happen to agree with, is that this fossil find is as a result of re-deposition.  Re-deposition occurs when strata which contains fossils is disturbed and the fossils end up being moved from the location where they were originally sited.  Much of East Anglia has deposits of glacial clays, the result of movements of ice sheets during the Quaternary.  In 1959, isolated fossils believed to have come from another Pliosaur were discovered in a ploughed field close to the village of Wrentham on the Suffolk coast.  Four years ago, a single dorsal vertebra was found at Theberton Airfield about twenty miles north-east of Tuddenham St Martin.

A spokes person from Everything Dinosaur commented:

“It is quite likely that this particular fossil originates from Lower Jurassic deposits which can be found elsewhere in England.  Lower Jurassic strata forms a narrow belt along the western margins of the Yorkshire Wolds continuing into Lincolnshire and into the Midlands.  One of our team members once spotted a plesiosaur limb bone that had been exposed as a pond dried up.  It is quite likely that this fossil bone originated from this Jurassic aged strata.”

Speaking about his lucky fossil find, Mr Lambert exclaimed:

“It’s rather fun.  I’ve been here 29 years, we’ve got eight acres of ground, we are quite keen on the gardening side and I can honestly say we’ve found nothing whatsoever of any kind of value apart from rubbish, so it’s really fun to have found this.”

It is likely that the fossil will be donated to the Colchester and Ipswich Museum, it may not be part of the geology of Suffolk, but thanks most likely to glaciation and re-deposition, evidence of an apex Jurassic marine predator has been uncovered in a sleepy Suffolk village.

To view the range of prehistoric animal marine reptile models including plesiosaurs and pliosaurs in stock at Everything Dinosaur: Sea Monsters and Models of Marine Reptiles.