Ceratopsians from Appalachia

A serendipitous discovery made by Dr Nick Longrich (University of Bath), whilst exploring the fossil collection of the Yale Peabody Museum (New Haven, Connecticut) has helped to provide a tantalising glimpse into the Late Cretaceous dinosaur fauna of North America.

Fragment of Jawbone from North America

The fragment of upper jawbone (maxilla) has been identified as coming from a early member of the horned dinosaur family and it reinforces the idea that thanks to the Western Interior Seaway, the dinosaurs on the eastern part of the landmass that we now know as North America were very different and genetically diverging from the dinosaurs living on the western part of the continent.

Although to the casual observer the fossil specimen looks like a mere scrap of fossil bone, this is the first evidence of a horned dinosaur found in eastern North America.

An Artists Impression of What the Dog-sized Dinosaur Would Have Looked Like

First fossil evidence of Ceratopsians in eastern North America.

Picture credit: Nicholas Longrich/University of Bath

A Dog-sized Dinosaur

Described as being about the size of a Labrador dog, Dr Longrich has not been able to assign a genus to his fossil find.  However, this does represent a new species, one that is difficult to name given the lack of fossil material.

Dr Longrich (from the Milner Centre for Evolution, part of the Department of Biology and Biochemistry at Bath University), was examining some of fossils held in the collection of the Peabody Museum at Yale University when he noticed the jaw fragment.  It had been found on a farm in North Carolina in 1985 and labelled as a maxilla from a duck-billed dinosaur.

Intrigued by the bizarre shape of the bone and not being able to place the maxilla within any hadrosaurid genus that was familiar to him, Dr Longrich decided to study this fragment in greater detail.

Views of the Maxilla Identified as Ceratopsian

Various views, dorsal, lateral, ventral etc.

Picture credit: Nicholas Longrich/University of Bath

Although the fossil bone was only around four centimetres in length, Nicholas was able to compare this fragment of upper jaw with other ornithischian dinosaurs and the short teeth sockets, the tooth socket arrangement in the jaw and their shape and the way that the toothrow curved led him to assign this fossil to the Leptoceratopsidae family.

Introducing the Leptoceratopsids

The Leptoceratopsidae are a family of ceratopsids known from fossil finds from Asia and North America, although some fragmentary fossils from Sweden and Australia have been assigned by some authors to this family.  They are characterised by their small size (less than three metres long), presence of a neck frill but no horns other than pronounced jugal bones.  They may have been facultative bipeds, mostly walking on all fours but with the ability to walk or run on their hind legs should the need have arisen.

Regarded as basal ceratopsians, this is a bit of a misnomer as the group persisted until the very end of the age of dinosaurs with a number of species living alongside the giant quadrupeds such as the better known horned dinosaurs such as Styracosaurus, Triceratops and Centrosaurus.

The number of genera in this family has been swelled in recent years due to a number of new fossil discoveries such as Zhuchengceratops from China and Gryphoceratops and Unescoceratops from southern Alberta (Canada).

A Unique Slender and Down-turned Toothrow

The maxilla has some unique autapomorphies (unique anatomical characteristics).  It is long, narrow and down-curved, this suggested a specialised feeding strategy.  What exactly this little herbivorous dinosaur fed on is open to speculation but during the time when it lived (around 77 million years ago), the flowering plants were rapidly evolving.  Perhaps, it evolved to feed on a certain group of plants that represented the undergrowth of forests and woodlands.

A Dinosaur from a “Lost Continent”

During the later stages of the Cretaceous, rising sea levels cut the continent of North America in two.  In the east, the long spit of land called Laramidia existed and thanks to the wealth of fossil finds from Alberta, Utah and Montana a great deal is known about the dinosaur fauna that roamed the eastern part of the divided landmass.

The fauna of the eastern part, called Appalachia, is not well known in comparison.  Fossil discoveries have been few and far between, much of the Cretaceous-aged fossil bearing material has been eroded away and not a great deal of sedimentary, fossil-bearing strata is exposed in the eastern part of the United States when compared to the vast open spaces of the west.

The Continent of North America During the Late Cretaceous

Lots of information known about Laramidia ceratopsids but this is the first fossil ceratopsid bone identified from Appalachia.

Picture credit: University of Bath

The leptoceratopsid fragment fits into a larger pattern of dinosaur evolution.  It does not resemble any of the Leptoceratopsidae genera known from Laramidia.  This suggests that as the landmass of Appalachia became more and more isolated, genetic divergence occurred with the isolated dinosaur species evolving different forms from their cousins in the west.

For models and replicas of North American dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals: Wild Safari Prehistoric World Models and Replicas.

Asian Dinosaurs in North America?

Many of the dinosaurs from Laramidia resemble Asian dinosaurs more closely than those identified from Appalachia.  Tyrannosaurus rex for example, had an Asian cousin Tarbosaurus bataar.  There is also a close resemblance in hadrosaur faunas.  From time to time as sea levels rose, the northern tip of Laramidia was able to connect with Asia, a land-bridge was formed and this enabled periods of fauna exchange between the continents to occur.  However, Appalachia remained an island for much of the Late Cretaceous and this permitted a largely unique dinosaur fauna to evolve.

Dr Longrich’s paper on the Leptoceratopsidae maxilla has been published in the academic journal “Cretaceous Research”.  Thanks to his keen eyesight whilst exploring the Peabody Museum, the Late Cretaceous dinosaur fauna of eastern North America is well and truly in the spotlight.

Visit Everything Dinosaur’s award-winning website: Everything Dinosaur.

Public and Private Announcements Regarding Gideon Mantell’s Iguanodontid

Many young dinosaur fans, eager to demonstrate their in-depth knowledge when it comes to the Dinosauria are happy to assert that the Iguanodon was the second dinosaur to be formally named and described. Some of the more confident, young scientists point out that this was the first dinosaur to be named by Gideon Mantell.  Trouble is, when it comes to Britain’s relationship with the iguanodontids it is certainly an enduring relationship but a rather complicated one as well.

Iguanodon

The fossilised bones of this ornithopod feature prominently in regional museums, especially those in southern England.  This Early Cretaceous herbivore is probably the genus most associated with the British Isles and its Dinosauria.  Iguanodon is even depicted on the coat of arms of the town of Maidstone (Kent) and two years ago it was included in a set of stamps designed by British palaeoartist John Sibbick.  Everything Dinosaur team members were asked to help out Royal Mail by providing the text for the press releases concerning these special stamps.  Yes, we wrote lots and lots about Iguanodon.

Iguanodon Featured on a Set of Royal Mail Stamps (2013)

The ornithopod Iguanodon on a stamp.  Is this Britain’s iconic dinosaur?

Early Fossil Discoveries

However, as with much of the information that relates to early English fossil discoveries, nothing is as straight forward as it seems.  For example, the name Iguanodon or at least “Iguanadon” appeared in print prior to Mantell’s letter to the Royal Society which was read out at a meeting of The Society on February 10th 1825.  It had been thought that the first public announcement of Iguanodon had taken place on that date.

Freelance palaeontologist and Isle of Wight based dinosaur hunter Martin Simpson has unearthed a newspaper report from the Hampshire Telegraph published on the 20th December 1824 that describes this dinosaur, well, the name given is “Iguanadon”.  This means that this dinosaur’s announcement took place seven weeks earlier than previously thought.

The Hampshire Telegraph and Iguanodon

The Hampshire Telegraph report covers the matters arising at a meeting of the Portsmouth Philosophical Society that took place on December 17th.  It seems that Gideon Mantell has written to the Portsmouth Philosophical Society shortly after settling on the name Iguanodon “Iguana Tooth”.  So it seems that it was Portsmouth not London where the name Iguanodon was first officially heard.

Pompeysaurus

It seems likely that other fossils representing iguanodontids had come to the attention of academics, long before the fabled teeth find by Mary Ann Mantell (Gideon Mantell’s wife) around 1822.  Reports of bones found in the Tilgate Forest area, at the time attributed to reptiles such as crocodiles and alligators, date from at least ten years before.  Indeed, such is the volume of large ornithopod fossil bones from southern England that in the year 2000, a revision of the Iguanodon family took place.

Many of the species that had been erected were declared nomen dubium (dubious in the their validity), fossils were assigned to other genera.  Now the Iguanodon holotype material is actually fossil material associated with Belgium (Iguanodon bernissartensis) and strictly speaking, only two species are currently included in this genus (I. bernissartensis) and the recently described Iguanodon galvensis from Spain.

There have been many models and replicas of Iguanodon produced.  Most model manufacturers have at least one ornithopod in their model range.  PNSO for example, have produced a large Iguanodon model.

To view the PNSO range of prehistoric animal figures: PNSO Age of Dinosaurs Models.

Press Release

In a press release which provides details of an article to feature in the next edition of “Deposits Magazine”, Martin Simpson is quoted as saying:

“It would be nice if she [Mary Ann Mantell] eventually had a species named after her to celebrate her role in the discovery of Iguanodon, one of the world’s most important dinosaurs.  I’m really excited to have discovered this unknown snippet of information which adds to the history of British dinosaurs and which will really appeal to all the dinosaur aficionados out there.”

The Crystal Palace Iguanodon – Or Is It?

A pair of Iguanodons study the Crystal Palace landscape.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

Everything Dinosaur acknowledges the help of a press release sent in by Jenny Hawthorn.

Perhaps the Natural History Museum Knew All About “Iguanadon” All Along

Spelling error on the box.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

Everything Dinosaur stocks the Natural History Museum model range: Natural History Museum Dinosaur Models.

Baby Oviraptorosaur May Be New Species of Giant Feathered Dinosaur

The fossilised remains of a baby dinosaur, identified as a member of the Oviraptorosauria clade have been returned to China, some twenty years or so after it was taken out of the country.  The baby dinosaur, a hatchling, may represent a new species of dinosaur, possibly a dinosaur that could have grown to about eight metres in length, around the size of Gigantoraptor (G. erlianensis) which is the largest species of this type of feathered dinosaur described to date.

Gigantoraptor

To read about the discovery of the 1,400 kilogramme Gigantoraptor: New Chinese Dinosaur Described – Gigantoraptor.

There is a large market for illegally obtained dinosaur fossils from China, many fossils found by local farmers such as dinosaur eggs and even baby dinosaurs, end up being carefully collected and smuggled out of the country to become part of a wealthy individual’s private collection.  This is what happened to the baby dinosaur fossil, it was found perhaps in the mid 1990s amongst a collection of fossilised eggs in the Henan Province of China, it would have moved through various parties until eventually winding up in the hands of a private collector in America.

The Fossilised Remains of “Baby Louie” – An Oviraptorosaur

“Baby Louie” returns home to China.

Picture credit: Darla Zelenitsky (University of Calgary) with additional annotation by Everything Dinosaur

Baby Dinosaur

The nearly complete fossil specimen was eventually purchased by the Indianapolis Children’s Museum (purchased in 2013), even though it was now in a museum collection, detailed scientific study of the fossil material was not possible, to provide a more complete understanding of the significance of this dinosaur, it would need to be examined in conjunction with other dinosaur egg fossils from the same Upper Cretaceous strata.

The fossil, nick-named “Baby Louie” after photographer, documentary maker and acclaimed contributor to National Geographic, Louie Psihoyos, was returned to China and now resides in the collection of the Henan Geological Museum, where scientists are confident that with other contemporaneous fossil material available, much more will be learned about this particular dinosaur species.

Darla Zelenitsky, of the University of Calgary, recently updated the Society of Vertebrate Palaeontology at their annual conference held in Dallas, (Texas), about the progress being made with the research.

Dr Zelenitsky stated:

“I have initially started doing research on the specimen in an attempt to identify the parentage of the eggs, but interpreting the fossil wasn’t so simple.  Most dinosaurs are named from adult specimens and multiple studies have underscored the fact that dinosaurs changed dramatically as they grew up.”

Unable to Speculate on the Nature of the Species

Although it has been widely accepted that the fossil represents a baby oviraptorosaur, it has proved difficult pining down a genus or indeed erecting a new species for this fossil.

Darla Zelenitsky summarised the problems:

“Because of the nature of the preservation and the immaturity of the skeleton, who laid the eggs was difficult to identify from the skeleton alone.  The best bet seemed to be some kind of oviraptorosaur, feathery theropod dinosaurs that had strange crests, and strange beaks.  Yet baby Louie seemed to large for such a species”.

A Dinosaur Described in 2007

It was not until that Gigantoraptor was described in 2007, that scientists became aware that some types of this theropod dinosaur could grown to be very sizeable animals.  Most members of this clade tend to be just a couple of metres in length, some such as Caudipteryx are a lot smaller than that.

Dr Zelenitsky added:

“The eggs themselves suggest oviraptorosaur, but their size indicated an adult egg-layer that would have been more than a dozen times larger than most oviraptorosaurs known at the time.”

Whilst it is still not possible to assign a species to the fossil, the discovery of Gigantoraptor suggests that “baby Louie” could have grown to a similarly large size.  Although it is difficult to speculate given the paucity of the fossil evidence, it has been suggested that this young dinosaur could have grown to be the size of Gigantoraptor.

Could Baby Louie Have Grown to the Size of Gigantoraptor?

Feathers used for display and courtship.

Picture credit: BBC (Planet Dinosaur Television Series)

Now that the specimen is in Henan Province, Dr Zelenitsky and her colleagues can put together a sustained research project to learn as much as they can about how oviraptorosaurs grew and matured.

CollectA have introduced a model of the feathered dinosaur Gigantoraptor.  To view this figure and the other dinosaur models in the CollectA range: CollectA Prehistoric Life Models.