CollectA Caiuajara Pterosaur Model Gets Customised
Our thanks to dinosaur and prehistoric animal model collector Elizabeth who sent into Everything Dinosaur some photographs of her recent CollectA pterosaur purchase that she has had customised by a professional model maker and artist. The pterosaur figure is the recently introduced (spring 2019), CollectA Supreme Deluxe Caiuajara model. This figure has been highly praised by collectors and fans of prehistoric animals, but when placed in the hands of a professional model maker this figure can be customised and elevated to a higher level.
The CollectA Deluxe Caiuajara Pterosaur Model After the Makeover
The CollectA Deluxe Caiuajara pterosaur figure (custom painted).
Picture credit: Elizabeth
Caiuajara Model Custom Painted
At Everything Dinosaur, we tend to get a lot of pictures of models that have been custom painted or altered by their owners in some way. We marvel at how clever and creative these people are. The CollectA Deluxe Caiuajara figure is very impressive, but the professional model maker (Martin Garratt), has created a truly unique piece, one that would not be out of place in a museum collection. Our congratulations to Martin for his excellent work and our thanks to Elizabeth for sharing images of the commission.
The Age of Dinosaurs Deluxe Caiuajara pterosaur figure with a moveable jaw.
Colour Vision and Feathers
Recent research has suggested that members of the Pterosauria may have been feathered in a similar way as dinosaurs. There is growing evidence to indicate that the common ancestor of the dinosaurs and pterosaurs may have evolved a coat of simple feathers to help this active animal keep warm.
To read an article outlining the latest evidence that supports the idea that feathers first evolved in the Early Triassic: Feathers Came First Then Birds Evolved.
A Closer View of that Beautifully Detailed Head Crest
CollectA Caiuajara has been customised.
Picture credit: Elizabeth
A Pterosaur Starting Point
When it comes to customising a figure or model, it is very important to work with a highly accurate and well-made model in the first place. If the figure has approximately the right proportions and has an intriguing pose that is anatomically accurate, then this permits the model maker the opportunity to really enhance the figure to create something truly unique.
Standing around twenty-four centimetres high, the CollectA Deluxe Caiuajara is quite sizeable and it has provided the model maker with lots of scope to really bring out the model’s features. Martin’s choice of colour scheme is very effective and the use of starkly contrasting colours highlights that colour was most important to these flying reptiles and supports the idea that these active animals had colour vision.
The Model Maker has chosen a Vivid Colour Palette and Used a High Gloss Wash to Bring out Details
A customised CollectA Caiuajara model.
Picture credit: Elizabeth
A spokesperson from Everything Dinosaur commented:
“Our thanks to Elizabeth for sharing these photographs with us, this figure will make a marvellous addition to her model collection.”
The First Archaeological Artefacts Found During the Search for Lost Prehistoric Settlements
During May 2019, an eleven-day expedition by European scientists from Belgium and Britain was undertaken to explore three sites of potential geological and archaeological interest in the southern North Sea. Through chance finds by fishermen over many decades, it has long been suspected that the southern North Sea hides a vast landscape that once was home to thousands of people. Over the past two years, the British team has been recreating the drowned landscape using data provided by oil and gas companies, windfarm developers and the coal board. The modelled landscape contains areas with a higher likelihood of past human activity, locations where prehistoric evidence for these activities might more likely be found.
Prospecting this drowned landscape in search of the evidence of people is a challenging activity, as the North Sea is not only one of the busiest seaways in the world but the weather often makes it inhospitable and this work can be dangerous. Furthermore, multiple utilities cross the area and visibility under water is often very poor.
Given these challenging conditions, researchers on the Belgian vessel, RV Belgica, used acoustic techniques and physical sampling of the seabed to survey three of the high potential target areas. The team used both traditional geophysical techniques and a novel new technique with a parametric sonar. This specialised equipment enabled the highest resolution images to be obtained of the deposits beneath the seabed. Although the survey was heavily impacted by poor weather, confirmation of the occurrence of a well-preserved early Holocene land surface was made near Brown Bank (Area C in figure below), where several large samples of peat and ancient wood were recovered. This evidence strongly suggests that a prehistoric woodland once stood in this area.
The Research Team Identified a Prehistoric Woodland
Area of woodland identified in the southern North Sea – area C in the figure. Location of the flint find marked B.
Picture credit: The University of Bradford (Europe’s Lost Frontiers/VLIZ)
Difficult Weather Conditions Hampered the Research Efforts
Although hampered by the rough seas and bad weather the research team made considerable progress. Survey over Area B (see figure above), targeted a large river system identified in the model landscape. This area was focused on a zone where the river entered an ancient sea and was suspected to be a location where evidence of human activity was more likely to be preserved. The survey recorded not only remains of peat but also nodules of flint which may originate from submarine chalk outcrops near the ancient river and coast. These findings are supported by the results of vibrocores acquired in the area for the Europe’s Lost Frontiers project.
The Survey Vessel – The RV Belgica
The research vessel the RV Belgica.
Picture credit: The University of Bradford
First Archaeological Artefacts
Further study has also revealed the first archaeological artefacts from the survey area. One was a small piece of flint that was possibly the waste product of stone tool making. The second was a larger piece, broken from the edge of a stone hammer, an artefact used to make a variety of other flint tools. As well as being evidence for flint tool production, the hammer fragment derived from a large battered flint nodule would once have been part of a personal tool kit. Research is still ongoing into this artefact and its context within the ancient North Sea landscape.
Laser Scan of the Flint
3-D laser scan of the flint, with raked lighting to show surface features.
Picture credit: Tom Sparrow, Visualising Heritage. University of Bradford
Images of the North Sea Flint
A series of images of the flint (laser scanned and colour photos) .
Picture credit: Tom Sparrow, Visualising Heritage. University of Bradford
Mapping the Southern River and the Brown Bank
In the relatively short period of time available for survey and sampling around the Southern River and the Brown Bank, the project methodology has clearly demonstrated its value. Marine geophysics has been used to map the topography of these lost lands and identify areas where prehistoric sediments may exist. Where these are accessible and are within areas of the landscape that are likely to be attractive for human occupation or use, sediments can be extracted for careful examination and with a higher expectation of making finds than was previously possible.
The material recovered suggests that the expedition has revealed a well-preserved, prehistoric landscape which, based on preliminary inspection of the material, must have contained a prehistoric woodland. The recovery of stone artefacts not only demonstrate that these landscapes were inhabited but also that archaeologists can, for the first time, prospect for evidence of human occupation in the deeper waters of the North Sea with some certainty of success. Work will now proceed to refine our knowledge of the larger context of these finds and to plan further expeditions to explore these hidden prehistoric landscapes.
Everything Dinosaur acknowledges the assistance of a press release from the University of Bradford in the compilation of this article.
Lots of things happening at Everything Dinosaur at the moment. We have something like thirty new models coming into stock over the summer and early autumn, plus of course, we are busy with all our teaching activities and school visits. However, there is time to post up one of our favourite pieces of prehistoric themed artwork in “Jurassic June”.
“Jurassic June”
Amazing Jurassic June Artwork – Capturing Prehistoric Scenes
Beautiful and detailed drawings of dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals.
Picture credit: Rudolph F. Zallinger)
“Dinosaurs and Other Prehistoric Reptiles”
The beautiful illustration (above), comes from one of our favourite dinosaur books, “Dinosaurs and Other Prehistoric Reptiles” written by Jane Werner Watson and illustrated by the amazingly talented Rudolph F. Zallinger. First published in 1966 (we think this is correct), the office copy dates from the early 1970s and is in pride of place on our office bookshelves. Although this book is somewhat outdated in terms of its details and the dinosaurs themselves do not represent current scientific thinking, the illustrations of ancient prehistoric landscapes and the animals that inhabited them are simply stunning.
The illustration depicts a swift Ornitholestes hunting a pair of early birds, a scene depicting the Late Jurassic. The artwork within this book, by Rudolph F. Zallinger, helped to capture the imaginations of countless children and to enthuse them about dinosaurs and life in the past. Everything Dinosaur team members were no exception.
The weather might be most unpleasant for much of the British Isles at the moment, but soon it will be the summer holidays and many of the beaches of Britain will be crowded by fossil hunters keen to add to their fossil collections. At numerous sites, fossils of ammonites can be found. The shells of these widespread, diverse and specious cephalopods adorn many amateur fossil collections. Here at Everything Dinosaur, we have hundreds and hundreds of specimens. Although, lots of people find ammonite fossils, in our experience few are aware of the amazing sexual dimorphism exhibited by the Subclass Ammonoidea.
Female Ammonites were Larger than Male Ammonites
Two ammonites from the same species but believed to represent a female (left) and the smaller male (right). Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.
Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur
Ammonite Fossils – the Macroconch and the Microconch
The fossilised shells of ammonites often preserve remarkable detail, but the size of the specimen found can also help to tell the boys from the girls. It is believed that shell size can help scientists determine male and female specimens in some species of ammonite. As far as we at Everything Dinosaur are aware, ammonites exhibited sexual dimorphism, that is, the females of a species grew to be much bigger than the males (see picture of ammonite fossil shells above).
The microconch (male) is smaller and wider, whilst the macroconch, believed to represent the female of the species is much larger, an adaptation to accommodate egg production. This dimorphism is found to today in the close relative of ammonites – the nautilus.
Ammonite Fossil (Male)
A close view of what is believed to be a male ammonite.Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.
Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur
Male and Female Ammonites
Some male and female ammonites of the same species had different sized and different shaped shells. There is evidence to suggest that the in some species, the microconch, representing the male had long projections from the forward edge of the body chamber. This could have helped to protect the animal, but they may have signalled maturity and fitness for breeding. Perhaps these projections were used in intraspecific conflict over mate selection.
Most ammonite fossils found in the UK represent creatures that lived during the Jurassic, although a number of sites, particularly in southern England, such as the beaches around Folkestone in Kent, yield evidence of Cretaceous ammonites. Most ammonite fossils found are relatively small with only a few specimens exceeding 25 centimetres in diameter, but fragments of the shells of much larger animals can still be found.
Ammonite Specimens on Display
A display from the National Museum of Wales (Cardiff) looking at male and female ammonites.Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.
Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur
Dangerous Cliffs
The recent heavy rain has led to a number of cliffs becoming unstable. Everything Dinosaur has posted up helpful information and advice warning prospective fossil hunters to stay clear of cliffs. Many cliffs have become saturated with water and the risk of substantial rock falls and landslides is high in many coastal locations. Whether looking for ammonites, or indeed any other fossil for that matter, please take care, heed local warnings and don’t stray too close to cliffs, there are plenty of fossils to be found on the foreshore.
If you are looking for ammonite models and other prehistoric animals: Everything Dinosaur.
Another busy few days at Everything Dinosaur with a series of school visits to deliver dinosaur and fossil themed workshops. Our week concluded with a series of workshops with the Key Stage 1 and Reception classes at Newport Infant School (Shropshire). The whole school is studying dinosaurs over a two-week period and Everything Dinosaur was invited into the school to help kick-start the scheme of work.
As our visit came to an end, we were presented with a set of dinosaur and prehistoric animal drawings that had been produced by one of the classes that we had worked with.
Drawings of Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Animals Presented to Everything Dinosaur
Dinosaur drawings presented to Everything Dinosaur from schoolchildren. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.
Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur
Dinosaur Drawings
A spokesperson from Everything Dinosaur commented:
“We try to set lots of cross-curricular extension activities when working with children in Foundation Stage 2 and Key Stage 1. This helps to support the lesson plans that have been devised by the teaching team. We challenged the children to draw a dinosaur and to label body parts using some of the new terms that we had introduced to the class during our workshop. It is always a pleasure to receive such wonderful drawings and the writing element of this exercise helps the children to develop important motor skills.”
For further information on Everything Dinosaur’s outreach work and our contribution to the community: Contact Everything Dinosaur.
Visit the award-winning and easy to use Everything Dinosaur website: Everything Dinosaur.
With the discovery of the amazing feathered dinosaur fossils from China, scientists have had to re-think their views about the appearance of dinosaurs, but the story of the evolution of the feather goes more than just skin deep. In a follow up, to an earlier scientific paper published late last year that examined the evidence for four different types of feather in the Pterosauria, a team of researchers have concluded that the feather arose around 80 million years earlier than the first bird. Furthermore, the study, led by scientists at the University of Bristol proposes that feathers played a significant role in helping to shape modern terrestrial ecosystems.
Not Just a Flight of Fancy – Feathers Change the Way We Look at Archosaurs
Numerous isolated feathers have been preserved indicating the presence of Avialae – primitive birds and theropod dinosaurs closely related to birds. In addition, feather-like structures have been identified in pterosaurs.
Picture credit: Museu Nacional
Changing Our Understanding of Feathers, Their Function and Role in Evolution
Writing in the academic journal “Trends in Ecology and Evolution”, the researchers develop the work undertaken last year that looked at evidence for feathers in flying reptile fossils from China and utilises techniques deployed in molecular biology to plot the development of integumentary producing genes within the Archosauria. If feathers did evolve in the Pterosauria as well as the Dinosauria, then this suggests that their common ancestor may have been feathered to. Feather-like structures probably arose relatively early in the evolution of the archosaurs.
Lead author of the paper, Professor Mike Benton (Bristol University), commented:
“The oldest bird is still Archaeopteryx first found in the Late Jurassic of southern Germany in 1861, although some species from China are a little older. Those fossils all show a diversity of feathers – down feathers over the body and long, vaned feathers on the wings. But, since 1994, palaeontologists have been contending with the perturbing discovery, based on hundreds of amazing specimens from China, that many dinosaurs also had feathers.”
Archaeopteryx – An Early Bird But Not The First Creature to Have Feathers
The first bird – “Urvogel”, the Archaeopteryx but not the first animal to have feathers.
Picture credit: Carl Buell
Links Between Fish Teeth, Scales, Feathers and Mammalian Hair
Feathers are modified epidermal appendages that consist mainly of horn-like proteins (β-proteins). Research has identified links at the genetic level between structures in vertebrates associated with shark teeth, dermal scales in teleost fishes, reptilian scales, feathers and mammalian body hair. The discovery that genes specific to the production of feathers evolved at the base of the Archosauria clade rather than in association with stem members of the Avialae (birds), is supported by fossil evidence in the form of numerous examples of feathered dinosaurs including examples of feathers in ornithischian dinosaurs as well as the Theropoda. Many of the authors of this new paper also worked on the study into feathers in pterosaurs published in December last year.
A Genetic Link Between Dermal Coverings in Tetrapods and Teleost Fish Scales
Fish scales linked to feathers in genome analysis.Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.
Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur
Not Just Dinosaur Feathers
If feathers evolved before the evolution of flight, they probably arose first as simple monofilament structures most likely to aid the retention of body heat in the archosaurian ancestors of birds and dinosaurs, perhaps first appearing sometime in the Early Triassic, a time after the Permian mass extinction which had led to a massive terrestrial faunal turnover and the evolution of more active animals with upright, erect gaits.
Co-author of the study, Baoyu Jiang from the University of Nanjing (China), added:
“At first, the dinosaurs with feathers were close to the origin of birds in the evolutionary tree. This was not so hard to believe. So, the origin of feathers was pushed back at least to the origin of those bird-like dinosaurs, maybe 200 million years ago. In fact, we have shown that the same genome regulatory network drives the development of reptile scales, bird feathers, and mammal hairs. Feathers could have evolved very early.”
Pterosaurs had Feathers
The breakthrough for the research team occurred when two new types of pterosaur from China were studied. Their pycnofibres showed branching, they did not have monofilaments but tufts and downy-like feathers, this led to the conclusion that members of the Pterosauria had feathers too.
Baoyu Jiang continued: “The breakthrough came when we were studying two new pterosaurs from China.
Professor Benton postulated that this area of research indicates the origins of feathers some 250 million years ago.
The professor explained:
“The point of origin of pterosaurs, dinosaurs and their relatives. The Early Triassic world then was recovering from the most devastating mass extinction ever, and life on land had come back from near-total wipe-out. Palaeontologists had already noted that the new reptiles walked upright instead of sprawling, that their bone structure suggested fast growth and maybe even warm-bloodedness, and the mammal ancestors probably had hair by then. So, the dinosaurs, pterosaurs and their ancestors had feathers too. Feathers then probably arose to aid this speeding up of physiology and ecology, purely for insulation. The other functions of feathers, for display and of course for flight, came much later.”
The Importance of Kulindadromeus
Co-author Dr Maria McNamara (University College Cork, Ireland), explained that the discovery of a feathered dinosaur not thought to be closely related to birds has changed the way some palaeontologists view the evolution of feathers. In 2014, a formal paper was published on a small, bird-hipped dinosaur that was named Kulindadromeus. Fossils of this small, Siberian herbivore showed that it had skin covered with scales on the legs and tail, but strange, feathery filaments over much of the rest of its body.
A Scale Model of the Feathered Ornithischian Dinosaur Kulindadromeus (K. zabaikalicus)
A 1:1 scale model of Kulindadromeus (Kulindadromeus zabaikalicus)
Picture credit: T. Hubin/RBINS
Dr McNamara commented:
“What surprised people was that this was a dinosaur that was as far from birds in the evolutionary tree as could be imagined. Perhaps feathers were present in the very first dinosaurs.”
Studying the Development of Dinosaur Feathers
Fellow co-author Danielle Dhouailly (University of Grenoble, France), studies the development of feathers in baby birds, especially their genomic control. Her research has demonstrated that modern birds such as chickens often have scales on their legs or necks, these are in fact evidence of reversal, what had once been feathers had reverted to their more ancient form, that of reptilian scales.
This research supports the idea that gene regulatory networks show that the development of scales, feathers and hairs are co-ordinated by a similar set of genes. Feathers and body hair probably evolved in the Early Triassic with the ancestors of mammals and birds, at a time when synapsids (the lineage of tetrapods that led to mammals) and archosaurs (dinosaurs and birds), show independent evidence of higher metabolic rates.
It was the mass extinction event at the end of the Permian that re-set the evolutionary clock and permitted the evolution of more active land animals, setting terrestrial lifeforms on a course that would ultimately lead to the rise of the dinosaurs, volant flight in the Dinosauria and of course the evolution of modern mammals including ourselves.
The scientific paper: “The Early Origin of Feathers” by M. J. Benton, D. Dhouailly, B. Jiang and M. McNamara published in Trends in Ecology & Evolution.
To read our earlier article (December 2018) that examined the evidence for four different kinds of feather-like structures associated with pterosaur fossils: Are the Feathers About to Fly in the Pterosauria?
To read an article from 2015 setting out a counter argument concluding that the majority of the Dinosauria probably did not have feathers: Most Dinosaurs Were Probably Scaly.
The “Lost Creatures” exhibition at the Queensland Museum (Australia), has been open for more than five years. Hasn’t the time flown by. The exhibition opened in December 2013, its aim was to document the amazing prehistoric creatures that once inhabited this part of Australia. The skilfully designed displays to be found on level two of the museum, took visitors on a journey from around 250 million years ago to more recent times to meet ancient megafauna such as giant monitor lizards, terrifying marine reptiles and of course, dinosaurs.
The “Lost Creatures” Exhibition at the Queensland Museum (Opening Publicity Photograph)
Dinosaurs, pterosaurs and other prehistoric animals from Queensland feature in the “Lost Creatures” exhibition.
Picture credit: Queensland Museum
Recently, Everything Dinosaur has produced a number of articles about Australian dinosaur discoveries, ironically, the most recent articles have featured dinosaur fossil finds, not from Queensland but from New South Wales.
Commenting on the significance of the exhibition when it first opened the Minister for Science, Innovation, Information Technology and the Arts, at the time, Ian Walker stated:
“Lost Creatures tells an epic story of the struggle to survive and reveals which species survived extinction events in Queensland’s distant past.”
Remains of Armoured Dinosaurs on Display
The remains of armoured dinosaurs make up part of the “Lost Creatures” exhibition.
Picture credit: Queensland Museum
More than a Hundred Fossils on Display
The exhibition consists of more than one hundred fossil specimens which combine with beautiful three-dimensional animal reconstructions and fossil casts to bring Queensland’s prehistoric fauna to life. Star attractions include the giant lizard Megalania, arguably Australia’s most famous dinosaur – Muttaburrasaurus and remains of ancient prehistoric mammals, some of the giant marsupials that dominated “down under”.
Giant Mammals and the Remains of Prehistoric Reptiles
The remains of giant mammals and marine creatures on display.
Picture credit: Queensland Museum
Exhibition Highlights
Exhibition highlights include remains of the enormous, prehistoric wombat Diprotodon as well as a life-size reconstruction of the hind leg of the sauropod Rhoetosaurus which stands over two metres high. In addition, more than ninety square metres of the famed Lark Quarry dinosaur trackways are on display along with a video speculating how the numerous dinosaur tracks might have formed.
When this exhibit first opened it was hailed as one of the most comprehensive overviews of Australia’s ancient megafauna, it is pleasing to see that after nearly six years it is still attracting lots and lots of visitors.
Everything Dinosaur acknowledgs the assistance of the Queensland Museum in the compilation of this article.
Pupils at Newport Infant School (Shropshire), are studying dinosaurs and prehistoric animals over the next two weeks. The schoolchildren discovered a huge three-toed dinosaur footprint in their well-kept and spacious playground at the start of the week. With the help of the dedicated and enthusiastic teaching team the pupils decided that the giant track must have been made by a dinosaur!
A Giant Dinosaur Footprint Discovered in the School Playground
A huge dinosaur footprint spotted at a school. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.
Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur
Dinosaur Footprint Spotted
Mr Remington, the school caretaker took the precaution of sealing off that part of the playground and the children became “dinosaur detectives” as they tried to work out what kind of dinosaur had paid them a visit. The footprint is just one of the many creative dinosaur and prehistoric animal themed activities that the staff have planned for the children. All the school is involved from Reception to the Year 2 classes and Everything Dinosaur had been invited into the school to deliver a series of workshops with the budding young palaeontologists.
During the workshops the children demonstrated some amazing knowledge and were happy to explain about dinosaurs and to discuss dinosaur facts. Some of the children in the Reception classes had even brought in numerous dinosaur books from home to show our dinosaur expert.
We hope the additional teaching resources and extension materials that we supplied helps to support the school’s creative and challenging scheme of work.
University Staff and Students Find Neolithic Artefacts
Staff and students from the University of Wales Trinity Saint David (UWTSD), Lampeter campus have uncovered evidence of New Stone Age activity in western Wales including the discovery of a stone axe that would have been a prized possession some 4,000 years ago.
The stone axe find was made during an archaeological dig at Llanllyr in Talsarn, Ceredigion county. The dig is part of a programme of undergraduate fieldwork, enabling students to gain “hands on” experience and to practice field techniques. Excavations have been centred around low mounds surrounded by marshland, areas that are believed to have formed dry ground in the past and as such, they are key places to study for signs of early human habitation. These “islands” of raised, dry ground appear to have been the focus of activity in the Neolithic period (between four and six thousand years ago), when people left behind traces of their presence in the form of flint tools and other artefacts.
Staff and Students Working at the Archaeological Site
University of Wales Trinity Saint David (UWTSD) – Lampeter campus working at the Neolithic dig site.
Picture credit: University of Wales Trinity Saint David (UWTSD)
Trenches Dug to Explore the Deposition of Material
Exploratory trenches were dug at the site and in one, a ground stone axe was discovered. This rare artefact very probably had a wooden handle when in use thousands of years ago. The axe would have taken many hours of skilled labour to shape, academics have expressed surprise that such an object was abandoned in this landscape. The team from the University are also investigating the surrounding area using boreholes to recover samples suitable for reconstructing the ancient vegetation and to provide further data to help date the age of the stone tool finds.
The Flint Stone Axe Found at the Site
The stone axe with an archaeological ruler for scale. The chopping face of the axe can be seen on the right.
Picture credit: University of Wales Trinity Saint David (UWTSD)
Field Work Experience – An Important Teaching Aid
Joint leader of the dig team, Dr Martin Bates, a geoarchaeologist at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David commented:
“Running an excavation like this is an important part of our teaching here at Lampeter and giving our students the opportunity to gain the skills an archaeologist needs is very important. When we began our excavations, we did not anticipate finding Neolithic artefacts so this is a bonus for the team. Hopefully, we can come back next year with a new group of students and continue our investigation of this important piece of Ceredigion’s history.”
Lucky Student
Second-year student Joe Neal was the lucky person who uncovered the stone axe. The archaeology undergraduate student stated:
“It’s a great find for us, I couldn’t have hoped to find anything better. This is my first dig and the first time I have found anything, so this is great.”
Dr Ros Coard, Senior Lecturer in Archaeology at UWTSD, added:
“The University of Trinity Saint David has run excavations at the Llanllyr site over a number of years but mostly found later medieval material, so to find a much deeper pre-history is exciting and broadens our understanding of the Aeron Valley and this part of Ceredigion. It is a most unusual and unexpected find certainly warranting further exploration of the area.”
Everything Dinosaur acknowledges the assistance of a press release from the University of Wales Trinity Saint David in the compilation of this article.
To read about a New Stone Age jawbone with a beeswax filling: Neolithic Dentists.
To read an article about the mapping and recording of high altitude, ancient Stone Age artwork: High Rise Archaeology.
Australia’s Newest Dinosaur Fostoria dhimbangunmal – A Gem of a Fossil Discovery
A team of scientists from the University of New England (New South Wales, Australia), in collaboration with the Australian Opal Centre, have announced the discovery of yet another Aussie dinosaur. The dinosaur has been named Fostoria dhimbangunmal (pronounced Foss-taw-ree-ah dim-baan-goon-mal) and it has been identified from a series of opalised fossils representing a number of individual animals excavated from an opal mine near Lightning Ridge (New South Wales).
Fostoria dhimbangunmal
The herbivorous dinosaur, which would have measured around 5-6 metres in length when fully grown, has been classified as an iguanodontid and phylogenetic analysis based on a recently published data set positions Fostoria as the sister taxon to a clade of Gondwanan iguanodontians that includes Anabisetia saldiviai,Talenkauen santacrucensis (both from Argentina) and arguably, Australia’s most famous ornithopod – Muttaburrasaurus langdoni.
A Life Reconstruction of Fostoria dhimbangunmal
A life reconstruction of a Fostoria dhimbangunmal.
Picture credit: James Kuether
Evidence of a Herd of Plant-eating Dinosaurs
The fossil material has been opalised and it represents the remains of at least four different animals of different sizes/ages preserved in a monodominant bone bed excavated from the underground opal mine. Opalised individual fossils of dinosaurs have been found in this part of New South Wales before, but it is remarkable that so many body fossils have been opalised in this case.
Lead author of the scientific paper, published in the “Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology”, Dr Phil Bell (University of New England), stated that he was stunned by the sheer number of bones that had been found. He explained:
“We initially assumed it was a single skeleton, but when I started looking at some of the bones, I realised that we had four scapulae (shoulder blades) all from different sized animals.”
Finding these fossils in the same place suggests that these are the remains of a group of dinosaurs that travelled together, as such, this is the first instance of a “herd of dinosaurs” being discovered in Australia.
Fossil Material – Elements from the Forelimb and Shoulder Girdle
Fostoria forelimb and shoulder girdle elements.
Picture credit: Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology
The picture (above), shows views of a left scapula (A, B and C). Views of the left humerus (D, E and F) along with views of the left radius (G, H and I), scale bar = 2 cm.
The First Partial Skull of a Dinosaur from New South Wales
Most parts of the body are represented by the fossils, including elements from the skull such as the quadrate and other fossil bones that make up the braincase. The frontal bones have enabled the researchers to compare the skull roof of Fostoria to other iguanodontids and hypsilophodontids which has helped with classification.
Fossils of Fostoria dhimbangunmal Exposed
Fostoria dhimbangunmal fossils photographed in situ. Key (mt) – metatarsal, (is) ischium, (na) neural arches from vertebrae, (fr) unidentified fragment and (dr) dorsal rib.
Picture credit: Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology
Honouring Robert Foster
The genus name honours opal miner Robert Foster, who discovered the bonebed in the 1980s. The species name comes from the language of the Yuwaalaraay, Yuwaalayaay, and Gamilaraay peoples, after the Sheepyard opal field where the bonebed is located. Scientists and field team volunteers from the Australian Museum in Sydney helped excavate the fossils, but the bones remained unstudied until donated to the Australian Opal Centre by Robert’s children Gregory and Joanne Foster back in 2015.
A View of an Opalised Toe Bone (F. dhimbangunmal)
An opalised toe bone of the newly described dinosaur Fostoria (F. dhimbangunmal).
Picture credit: Robert A. Smith/Australian Opal Centre
Commenting on the significance of these fossils, palaeontologist and special projects officer, Jenni Brammall of the Australian Open Centre said:
“Fostoria has given us the most complete opalised dinosaur skeleton in the world. Partial skeletons of extinct swimming reptiles have been found at other Australian opal fields, but for opalised dinosaurs we generally have only a single bone or tooth or in rare instances, a few bones. To recover dozens of bones from the one skeleton is a first.”
An Important Gondwanan Representative of the Iguanodontians
Although most palaeontologists believe that the iguanodontid dinosaurs were very speciose and diverse during the Early Cretaceous, fossils representing iguanodontids from southern latitudes, what would have been the super-continent of Gondwana, are quite rare. For example, until Fostoria was described, only one Australian iguanodontid dinosaur – M. langdoni, was known. Fostoriadhimbangunmal extends the temporal range of these types of dinosaurs in Australia to the Cenomanian (early Late Cretaceous). It and Muttaburrasaurus are the only iguanodontians known from the eastern margin of the inland sea, the Eromanga Sea, whereas the group is conspicuously absent from the contemporaneous ornithopod-dominated ecosystems of the Australian-Antarctic rift valley in Victoria.
The scientific paper: “Fostoria dhimbangunmal, gen. et sp. nov., a new iguanodontian (Dinosauria, Ornithopoda) from the mid-Cretaceous of Lightning Ridge, New South Wales, Australia” by Phil R. Bell, Tom Brougham, Matthew C. Herne, Timothy Frauenfelder and Elizabeth T. Smith published in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.
