PNSO are to add another dinosaur figure to the mid-size range of models. A replica of the horned dinosaur Machairoceratops will be available from Everything Dinosaur in early 2021. Everything Dinosaur and PNSO have collaborated on a number of new model announcements in recent weeks. Perez the Machairoceratops is just the latest in a long line of exciting new figures.
New from PNSO and Available from Everything Dinosaur in Early 2021 – Perez the Machairoceratops
The new for 2021 PNSO Machairoceratops.
Machairoceratops – Soldier with Bent Swords
PNSO have called their new dinosaur model Perez. The soldier with the “bent swords” is a reference to the curved parietals (bent horns on top of the neck frill), after which, this dinosaur was named. Machairoceratops is pronounced Mak-air-oh-sera-tops and the name translates as “bent sword horned face”.
The Stunning Perez the Machairoceratops from PNSO
The PNSO Machairoceratops model. The PNSO Prehistoric Animal Models That Accompany Your Growth 41 Perez the Machairoceratops.
Machairoceratops – Plugging a Gap in the Horned Dinosaur Fossil Record
Fossils of this spectacular-looking horned dinosaur were recovered from strata in the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument area of southern Utah (Wahweap Formation). Palaeontologists calculate that this six-metre-long herbivore roamed the landmass known as Laramidia around 77 million years ago. Its discovery has helped fill a four-million-year gap in the centrosaurine fossil record.
A Close-up View of the Spectacular Horns on the New PNSO Ceratopsian Model
PNSO Machairoceratops – a model of a horned dinosaur.
Fossils of an earlier centrosaurine called Diabloceratops eatoni have been found in rocks that date to around 80 million years ago. The fossil material related to Machairoceratops plugs the gap between Diabloceratops and the later, centrosaurine Nasutoceratops titusi, whose fossils are associated with the overlying Kaiparowits Formation and date to approximately 75 million years ago.
This new PNSO dinosaur model measures 15.7 cm long and those curved parietals are around 7.9 cm off the ground. Several models from PNSO are currently in production and Everything Dinosaur will be making more new model announcements from this fascinating series in the near future.
PNSO Machairoceratops Model Measurements
PNSO Machairoceratops measurements.
Hinting About Future Model Announcements
Sharp-eyed readers might spot the figure of A-Qi the Sinoceratops (top left in the picture below), this is an image of a new PNSO replica that has yet to be officially announced. At least one more member of the Ceratopsidae can be expected from PNSO.
Hinting About Future Model Announcements
Four PNSO ceratopsians with Sinoceratops, Pachyrhinosaurus, Machairoceratops and Triceratops featured. the Sinoceratops figure (top left) hints at a future model announcement.
Everything Dinosaur Celebrates Publishing 5,000 Blog Articles
Team members at Everything Dinosaur have published blog post number 5,000! The UK-based company has posted up articles most days since the blog was started back in the late spring of 2007. This year (2020), has seen the dedicated staff celebrate the posting up of their 5,000th article.
The Everything Dinosaur Blog
Everything Dinosaur Celebrates Posting Up 5,000 Blog Articles
Everything Dinosaur celebrates publishing 5,000 blog articles all about fossil finds, dinosaur discoveries, prehistoric animal model collecting and a huge range of other topic areas related to palaeontology.Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.
A key objective of the Everything Dinosaur blog was to provide updates on research, fossil finds and dinosaur discoveries. Since it was established in May 2007, our blog has provided open access to news about palaeontology, providing an informed insight into the Earth sciences.
Our dedicated team of teachers, parents and dinosaur enthusiasts who write about anything and everything to do with dinosaurs, fossils and other prehistoric animals are looking forward to sharing more news and stories about the extinct creatures that once roamed our planet or swam in ancient seas.
A spokesperson for the company exclaimed:
“We are all immensely proud of this achievement, to have produced 5,000 articles and posts. By the end of 2020, we will be onto blog post number 5,030 or thereabouts. Our thanks to all the readers, commentators and contributors to our blog posts over the last thirteen years.”
Small Skull of Fossil Bird Has Big Implications (Falcatakely forsterae)
A team of international researchers including scientists from Ohio University, Stony Brook University (New York) and University College London have published a scientific paper describing a new type of enantiornithine bird (Falcatakely forsterae) from the Late Cretaceous of Madagascar.
Named Falcatakely, this crow-sized early avian offers a new perspective on the evolution of face and beak shape in the ancestral group leading to modern-day birds.
A Life Reconstruction of Falcatakely forsterae in the Late Cretaceous of Madagascar Surrounded by Other Archosaurs
A pair of Falcatakely birds are about to be disturbed an approaching group of titanosaurs.
Picture credit: Mark Witton
A Mesozoic Toucan?
Although palaeontologists are aware of a wide range of Mesozoic birds such as enantiornithines and hesperornithiforms which vary in size, flight adaptations and lifestyles, they all exhibit relatively conservative patterns of beak shape and development. Modern birds (neornithines), such as the finches studied by the famous naturalist Charles Darwin, show a huge range of beak morphologies, all associated with different feeding and behavioural ecologies. Falcatakely forsterae bucks this trend for birds from the Late Cretaceous, it has a beak morphology unlike other Mesozoic birds, one that is superficially similar to that of extant toucans.
Falcatakely forsterae, a combination of Latin and Malagasy words inspired by the small size and the scythe-like shape of the beak, which represents a completely novel face shape in Mesozoic birds.
Co-author of the scientific paper Dr Ryan Felice (University College London), explained how the study of birds have helped many scientists understand the subtleties of convergent evolution:
“Ever since Charles Darwin’s observations of Galapagos finches with differently-shaped beaks, birds have shaped our understanding of evolution through natural selection. This new discovery tells us even more about how the predecessors of modern birds evolved, by showing how different forces in different places can contribute to similar traits in distantly related animals.”
Falcatakely forsterae
Described from a single skull specimen which had remained uncatalogued for several years since its discovery in 2010, lead author Patrick O’Connor (Ohio University) and his colleagues used high resolution CT scans to build up a picture of the skull and beak.
The Skull of Falcatakely forsterae with CT Scans and Interpretative Line Drawing
The skull of Falcatakely (top) with two diagrams from CT scans and an interpretative line drawing.
Picture credit: O’Connor et al
Bird fossils are rare. Their light fragile bones tend not to fossilise well. Bird skulls are especially rare, but although crushed, the powerful CT scans have been able to reveal many unique features of the bones and the beak. For example, the researchers were able to identify a single preserved tooth in the premaxilla, probably one of several teeth lining the beak of this resident of north-western Madagascar some 68 million years ago.
Everything Dinosaur acknowledges the assistance of a media release from the University of Ohio and University College London in the compilation of this article.
The scientific paper: “Late Cretaceous bird from Madagascar reveals unique development of beaks” by Patrick M. O’Connor, Alan H. Turner, Joseph R. Groenke, Ryan N. Felice, Raymond R. Rogers, David W. Krause and Lydia J. Rahantarisoa published in Nature.
New CollectA Models for 2021 (Fourth and Final Part)
Today, we complete our look at the new for 2021 prehistoric animal models that are coming out from CollectA. In collaboration with CollectA Everything Dinosaur announces a further three new figures, they are an iconic prehistoric mammal, an updated version of perhaps the most extensively studied Early Jurassic theropod and an amazing Late Cretaceous ammonite with an incredible shell.
A CollectA Deluxe 1:20 scale Doedicurus – a wonderful replica of a prehistoric mammal.
CollectA Deluxe 1:40 scale Dilophosaurus – a model of an Early Jurassic theropod.
A CollectA Pravitoceras model – a stunning replica of a heteromorph ammonoid known from the Late Cretaceous of Japan.
All three figures will be available from Everything Dinosaur around the middle of 2021.
The New for 2021 CollectA Deluxe Doedicurus Replica
The CollectA Deluxe 1:20 scale Doedicurus model.
CollectA Deluxe Doedicurus Model
This is a stunning replica of the South American giant, distantly related to sloths and anteaters. First described by the famous English anatomist Richard Owen in 1847. Once assigned to the genus Glyptodon, Doedicurus was placed in its own separate genus in 1874 following an extensive revision of glyptodont fossil material.
Model designer Anthony Beeson commented:
“I wanted to get away from the rather cartoonish appearance of some of the Doedicurus models on the market. I have rejected the idea of long spikes on the club as these would be in danger of snapping and not so practical in what was probably its main purpose in mating conflicts between males where the idea is to show strength and not to kill rivals. One can give a harder blow with a knobbly club. although no doubt used as well in defence, the limited movement afforded to the head would rather limit the animal’s ability to use the club effectively against an attacker.”
The CollectA Deluxe 1:40 Scale Dilophosaurus
The new for 2021 CollectA Age of Dinosaurs 1:40 scale Dilophosaurus dinosaur model.
CollectA Deluxe 1:40 Scale Dilophosaurus Dinosaur Model
The last new for 2021 dinosaur figure to be announced by CollectA is a colourful, updated version of this Early Jurassic carnivore. A recently published paper (Marsh and Rowe 2020), revised how scientists viewed this theropod. The shape of those famous double crests changed and Dilophosaurus was depicted as a much more robust and powerful predator. The perception that this was a weak-jawed scavenger was replaced with the view that Dilophosaurus represents the largest terrestrial vertebrate known from the Early Jurassic of North America.
Our congratulations to CollectA for producing a new Dilophosaurus replica so quickly after the publication of the research.
With the introduction of this Dilophosaurus scale model, the Age of Dinosaurs Popular Dilophosaurus figure will be retired.
The CollectA Pravitoceras Model
The colourful heteromorph ammonoid model – CollectA Pravitoceras.
CollectA Prehistoric Animal Figures
The final new for 2021 CollectA figure is this spectacular model of the Late Cretaceous heteromorph ammonite Pravitoceras. This colourful model extends the number of invertebrates featured in the CollectA range following the introduction of a horseshoe crab, Orthoceras, a belemnite, a trilobite, the nautilus (N. pompilius) and an ammonite with a regularly coiled shell – Pleuroceras, in 2020.
Whilst members of the public might be quite familiar with those types of ammonites with tightly coiled shells, as epitomised by the CollectA Pleuroceras (an example of a homomorph shell), in the Late Jurassic a number of new types of marine cephalopod began to appear in the fossil record with varying degrees of uncoiled shells.
We congratulate CollectA for their new ammonite model.
These ammonites became increasingly abundant during the Cretaceous. By the Late Cretaceous they were widespread and extremely diverse with a myriad of different types of shell. So numerous were these ammonites, that just like their coiled relatives, many genera have become important zonal fossils assisting with the relative dating of strata.
A Heteromorph Ammonite Fossil
A heteromorph ammonite fossil part of an exhibit showing the huge variety of ammonite shells at the Manchester Museum. Most heteromorph ammonites evolved in the Cretaceous. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.
Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur
Bizarre Shells
Unlike some of the more bizarre shells of other heteromorphic ammonites, the final shell coil of Pravitoceras forms a distinctive “S” shape and the body chamber is folded back on itself to form a retroversal hook. Pravitoceras would have been able to swim with a minimal amount of drag due to its shell shape, whereas other more irregularly coiled ammonites with much more complicated shell configurations would have been encumbered by their shells when attempting to swim.
Palaeontologists speculate that these types of ammonites were either entirely epifaunal (dwelling on the sea floor), perhaps scavenging or hunting slow moving animals such as bivalves or snails, or they floated passively in the water column, like many types of extant jellyfish, feeding on zooplankton.
Whatever, part of the Cretaceous marine ecosystem Pravitoceras occupied it makes a great addition to the CollectA portfolio.
Model Measurements
A CollectA Deluxe 1:20 scale Doedicurus – length 18 cm, height of the carapace 7.6 cm, width 7.6 cm.
CollectA Deluxe 1:40 scale Dilophosaurus – length 18.4 cm, height 7.1 cm.
A CollectA Pravitoceras model – length 11 cm, height of shell 8.6 cm and width 7.1 cm.
All of these models will be available from Everything Dinosaur in the middle of 2021 or thereabouts.
Links to the CollectA Model Range at Everything Dinosaur
Kholumolumo ellenbergerorum – A Dinosaur from a “Rubbish Dump”
This year (2020), saw the publication of a scientific paper describing a new species of Late Triassic non-sauropodan sauropodomorph from southern Africa. The dinosaur named Kholumolumo ellenbergerorum, at around nine to ten metres in length, was one of the largest animals living in that part of Gondwana during the Norian stage of the Triassic. Surprisingly, for such a big animal, the fossils indicate that this dinosaur was bipedal.
A Life Reconstruction of Kholumolumo ellenbergerorum
Kholumolumo ellenbergerorum life reconstruction. Note scale bar equals 1 metre.Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.
Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur
Fragmentary Fossils
The fragmentary fossils consisting of post-cranial material, including most notably, a robust lower leg bone (tibia), represent several individuals and these fossils first came to light in 1930, when Samuel Motsoane, a leading member of the Paris Evangelical Mission School located at Bethesda in Lesotho, found several disarticulated dinosaur bones.
It was not until 1955 that a formal survey and excavation of the area was carried out. Brothers Paul and François Ellenberger mapped and excavated a small area uncovering a mono-dominant bonebed representing numerous individuals. The dig took place behind the back of a hut, within a few metres of the village rubbish dump. Undeterred the brothers completed their work, publishing a preliminary description that year with a more detailed paper following in 1956 which was published by the French Geology Society (Societe Geologique de France).
A Rare Archive Made Available
The Maphutseng assemblage has been mentioned in several papers and named on two occasions but never formally published. Back in the spring, this omission was rectified and this dinosaur was finally formally scientifically described (Peyre de Fabrègues & Allain). Two months before the scientific paper came out, the UK Government Foreign and Commonwealth Office via The National Archives made available on-line thousands of rare images of Africa, showing a century of British involvement on the continent.
One of those black and white images in the Lesotho section showed a dinosaur fossil excavation. There was a photographic record of the “Maphutseng dinosaur”.
Excavating Dinosaur Fossils in Lesotho
A photograph from The National Archives showing a dinosaur fossil excavation in Lesotho. The photograph is believed to show the excavation of the Late Triassic sauropodomorph Kholumolumo ellenbergerorum.
Picture credit: Alwyn Bisschoff/The National Archives (catalogue reference Part of CO 1069/209)
The photograph (above), might be just one of thousands of rare images of Africa made available on-line by The National Archives in a project entitled “Africa Through a Lens”, but it shows (most likely), one of the Ellenberger brothers carefully exposing the Kholumolumo fossil material.
Everything Dinosaur is not aware of a photographic record of the rubbish dump being preserved for posterity.
Kholumolumo ellenbergerorum
Despite the large size of this taxon (around 9-10 metres in length), with an estimated body mass of approximately 1.7 tonnes, the researchers (Peyre de Fabrègues & Allain), did not think Kholumolumo was linked to the origin of the Sauropoda, an Order of the Dinosauria famous for consisting of the largest terrestrial vertebrates known to science.
Kholumolumo (pronounced Ko-lum-oh-loo-mo) is derived from the local Sotho dialect for a mythical reptilian beast, whilst the specific or trivial name honours the Ellenberger brothers.
Scientists from the University of Portsmouth, National Museums of Ireland and Queen’s University Belfast have confirmed that fossils found by the late Roger Byrne on the east coast of County Antrim (Northern Ireland), are dinosaur bones. These are the only dinosaur bones known from the island of Ireland. Roger Byrne donated a number of specimens to Ulster Museum but they had not been closely studied, a scientific paper published in the Proceedings of the Geologists’ Association remedies that and confirms that two of the pieces are dinosaurian and although they were found at the same location, they represent bones from two different dinosaurs.
Lead Researcher Dr Mike Simms Holding the Two Dinosaur Fossil Bones
Dr Mike Simms (National Museums Northern Ireland) holds the theropod tibia on the left and the thyreophoran femur on the right.
Picture credit: The University of Portsmouth
Dinosaur Bones
Lead author of the research Dr Mike Simms stated:
“This is a hugely significant discovery. The great rarity of such fossils here is because most of Ireland’s rocks are the wrong age for dinosaurs, either too old or too young, making it nearly impossible to confirm dinosaurs existed on these shores. The two dinosaur fossils that Roger Byrne found were perhaps swept out to sea, alive or dead, sinking to the Jurassic seabed where they were buried and fossilised.”
Lias Group Exposures
The two fossil bones found by the Roger Byrne, a schoolteacher and avid fossil collector, come from Lower Jurassic strata exposed in Islandmagee. They had been suspected of representing dinosaur bones, although they were found in marine deposits. A detailed analysis of their histology and shape indicated that two of the pieces that Roger donated were indeed the bones of dinosaurs. Originally, it had been thought that the bones represented a single type of dinosaur but the research team were surprised to discover that they represent bones from two very different types.
One specimen has been interpreted as the proximal end of the left femur of a basal thyreophoran ornithischian. It has been tentatively assigned to Scelidosaurus, a primitive armoured dinosaur, fossils of which are known from Dorset (southern England) and date from the Sinemurian to the Pliensbachian faunal stages of the Early Jurassic. The strata from which the femur fragment was found dates from slightly earlier, both the fossil bones are around 200 million years old.
A Model of the Early Armoured Dinosaur Scelidosaurus
A model of a Scelidosaurus. The CollectA Deluxe 1:40 scale Scelidosaurus model.
Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur
The picture (above) shows the CollectA Deluxe Scelidosaurus figure.
The second fragment of bone has been identified as the proximal part of the left tibia of an indeterminate neotheropod, perhaps a member of the averostran-line similar to Sarcosaurus, or a megalosauroid. Sarcosaurus fossils are associated with Lower Jurassic strata (Hettangian-Sinemurian faunal stages), of England. Together, the two fossil dinosaur bones represent the first dinosaur remains reported anywhere in Ireland and some of the west westerly in Europe.
An Illustration of Sarcosaurus
Sarcosaurus scale drawing. A speculative drawing of the Early Jurassic theropod Sarcosaurus. It is not known whether this dinosaur had head crests like the distantly related Dilophosaurus.Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.
Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur
The researchers used high-resolution, three-dimensional replicas to confirm the identity of the items donated by Roger Byrne.
University of Portsmouth researcher Robert Smyth explained:
“Analysing the shape and internal structure of the bones, we realised that they belonged to two very different animals. One is very dense and robust, typical of an armoured plant-eater. The other is slender, with thin bone walls and characteristics found only in fast-moving two-legged predatory dinosaurs called theropods.”
An Illustration of the Fossil Bones from County Antrim
Drawings of the dinosaur fossil bones by the late Roger Byrne and incorporated into the scientific paper. Illustrations e, f, k and l are views of the theropod partial tibia and d, e are illustrations of the partial femur assigned to Scelidosaurus. Note scale bar 5 cm.
Picture credit: Roger Byrne/National Museums of Ireland
Very Important Fossil Discoveries
Despite their fragmentary and weathered nature, these fossils are extremely important as they date from the Hettangian stage of the Early Jurassic, shortly after the End Triassic extinction event when the Dinosauria start to diversify and become more widespread. Very few dinosaur fossils are known from this stage of the Early Jurassic, so Roger’s fossils are globally significant.
One of the other items donated by Roger Byrne probably represents an element from the skull or jawbone from a large marine reptile, perhaps an ichthyosaur or a pliosaur, whilst a polygonal-shaped piece was determined not to be a fossil at all, but a piece of Palaeocene basalt, similar to that found at the famous Giant’s Causeway on the northern coast of County Antrim.
Scelidosaurus a Beachcomber?
Commenting on the number of Scelidosaurus fossils associated with marine deposits, Professor Martill (University of Portsmouth), suggested:
“Scelidosaurus keeps on turning up in marine strata, and I am beginning to think that it may have been a coastal animal, perhaps even eating seaweed like marine iguanas do today.”
The fossils were on display at the Ulster Museum during the “Dippy on Tour” exhibition in 2018, but it is hoped that these important fossil bones will be able to go on permanent display once the COVID-19 restrictions are lifted.
Everything Dinosaur acknowledges the assistance of a media release from the University of Portsmouth in the compilation of this article.
The scientific paper: “First dinosaur remains from Ireland” by Michael J. Simms, Robert S.H. Smyth, David M. Martill, Patrick C. Collins and Roger Byrne published in the Proceedings of the Geologists’ Association.
Having posted up information about the latest batch of new for 2021 prehistoric animal models to be introduced by CollectA, team members put together a video review for Everything Dinosaur’s YouTube channel. The video review provides information about the new Age of Dinosaurs Popular Elasmosaurus, discusses the famous mistake made by the American palaeontologist Edward Drinker Cope and looks at the scientific evidence for giving this huge plesiosaur a tail fin (fluke).
The Everything Dinosaur Video Review of the New for 2021 CollectA Prehistoric Animal Figures (Part 3)
Summarising the Scientific Evidence for a Tail Fluke in Plesiosaurs
Providing information about the scientific evidence for a tail fluke in members of the Plesiosauroidea.Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.
Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur
CollectA Deluxe 1:40 Scale Xiphactinus Model
The YouTube video review lasts about thirteen and a half minutes and provides a comprehensive review of the new CollectA Deluxe 1:40 scale Xiphactinus, a contemporary of Elasmosaurus. However, team members stress that this prehistoric fish was much more widely distributed and it was not limited to the Western Interior Seaway.
Looking at the Distribution of the Ancient Predatory Fish Xiphactinus
The widespread Xiphactinus (geographically and temporally). Xiphactinus fossils are known from North America, Europe, Venezuela and even from the southern hemisphere (Argentina).Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.
Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur
We recommend that you take a look at Everything Dinosaur on YouTube where you will find this new CollectA video review. Here is a link to our YouTube channel: Everything Dinosaur – YouTube.
Everything Dinosaur encourages you to subscribe to our YouTube channel.
The New Set of CollectA Mini Prehistoric Animal Models
As well as providing information on fossils relating to Xiphactinus and Elasmosaurus, the new for 2021 set of mini prehistoric animal models is also discussed. This set will feature ten figures, nine of which are entirely new sculpts. These models are great for use in prehistoric landscapes or dinosaur dioramas where they can represent juveniles or sub-adults.
Reviewing the New for 2021 CollectA Mini Prehistoric Animal Model Set
The new for 2021 set of mini prehistoric animals from CollectA features 10 figures. There are 8 dinosaurs (Alamosaurus, Argentinosaurus, Iguanodon, Mapusaurus, Mercuriceratops, Oviraptor, Therizinosaurus and Utahraptor). Also included in this set is a miniature replica of the marine reptile Pliosaurus and a flying reptile figure – Guidraco.Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.
Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur
A spokesperson from Everything Dinosaur commented:
“We aim to educate and inform with our CollectA model reviews. Our intention is to provide some of the scientific information that is reflected in the figures. For example, we examine amazing fossils showing the preserved remains of a victim entombed within the stomach cavity of a Xiphactinus audax specimen. We discuss elasmosaurids and we provide pictures of plesiosaur tail bones that might indicate the presence of a tail fluke. We have one more video to produce about new CollectA models for next year. This video will be posted up on our YouTube channel next week.”
The popular PNSO Age of Dinosaurs range features a huge variety of different types of dinosaur and prehistoric animal. However, at Everything Dinosaur, we are always delighted to see a dinosaur that once lived in China being produced as a replica by a company that is based in China. One of our favourites from the PNSO portfolio epitomises this approach, the colourful PNSO Sinosauropteryx prima figure.
The PNSO Sinosauropteryx (S. prima) Dinosaur Model
PNSO Yuyan the Sinosauropteryx dinosaur model. A model of a compsognathid, fossils of which come from China. The model has been carefully painted to reflect current scientific thinking about the colouration of this small theropod dinosaur.
PNSO Sinosauropteryx prima
The PNSO Sinosauropteryx is number 039 in the “Prehistoric Animal Toys that Accompany your Growth” range of figures, it is available as a single purchase or part of the enormous, suitcase-sized set of 48 prehistoric animal figures.
The Special Edition PNSO Gift Box with Includes 039 Yuyan the Sinosauropteryx Model
PNSO special edition gift box. A superb gift box containing 48 prehistoric animal figures from the PNSO “Prehistoric Animal Toys that Accompany your Growth” product portfolio. This set does include the Yuyan (Sinosauropteryx) model.
Sinosauropteryx prima
Named and described back in 1996, this little feathered dinosaur caused a sensation when its discovery was announced. Whilst the discovery of feathered theropod dinosaurs has become more of routine event in the near quarter of a century since S. prima was named and scientifically described (Ji and Ji), Everything Dinosaur team members expect to report in the very near future about the finding of another feathered compsognathid, not from north-eastern China but from north-eastern Brazil.
A spokesperson from Everything Dinosaur commented:
“The Compsognathidae is a diverse and temporally widespread family of small, cursorial theropods. We expect to post up a blog article soon about a bizarrely feathered compsognathid that roamed north-eastern Brazil around 110 million years ago. We are so pleased to see models of compsognathids such as Sinosauropteryx being produced by mainstream model makers.”
Note
Everything Dinosaur’s post about the new South American compsognathid has now been published (December 15th, 2020). The article featuring Ubirajara jubatus can be found here: One Very Flashy New Dinosaur – Ubirajara jubatus.
Sinosauropteryx is pronounced Sign-no-sore-opt-ter-iks and it translates as “Chinese Lizard Wing”. Ubirajara (pronounced You-bi-rah-jar-rah), has been placed within the Compsognathidae family, it is regarded as the sister genus to a clade formed between Compsognathus from the Late Jurassic of Europe and Sinosauropteryx from the Early Cretaceous of north-eastern China.
To view the PNSO Sinosauropteryx model and the rest of the figures in the PNSO prehistoric animal model range: PNSO Age of Dinosaurs.
Dinosaur Diversification Rates not in Decline at the End of the Cretaceous
A team of international researchers including scientists from the London Natural History Museum and the University of Bath have undertaken an extensive and sophisticated statistical analysis to try to establish whether the dinosaurs were in terminal decline prior to the end-Cretaceous mass extinction event that saw the demise of all non-avian forms.
Studying the Dinosaurs at the End of the Cretaceous
The detailed Bayesian analysis suggests had the extra-terrestrial object not hit planet Earth, then the dinosaurs might have continued to dominate terrestrial ecosystems.
If the Bolide (Extra-terrestrial Object) had not Hit – Would the Non-avian Dinosaurs Still be Around Today?
An artist’s impression of the bolide about to impact with the Gulf of Mexico 66 million years ago. Had this catastrophic event not occurred then the Dinosauria could have continued to dominate terrestrial ecosystems according to a new study.
Picture credit: Chase Stone
How quickly the non-avian dinosaurs died out and what sort of health dinosaur populations were in around 66 million years ago has proved to be one of the most contentious issues in vertebrate palaeontology. Some scientists argue that there were fewer genera of dinosaurs present in the Maastrichtian faunal stage of North America than in the preceding Campanian. They propose that this is evidence to suggest that the non-avian members of the Dinosauria were in decline long before their final extinction. Other scientists present data to support the idea that new species were still evolving and that the “terrible lizards” were showing no signs of being under population stress.
Were the Dinosaurs in Decline Prior to the K-Pg Extinction Event?
Hadrosaurs dominated many dinosaur-based ecosystems and some scientists have postulated that the relative lack of diversity in dinosaur families could represent evidence of populations being under stress.
Picture credit: James Havens
The Extinction of the Dinosaurs
Extensive disagreements remain over whether the extinction of the dinosaurs was a sudden catastrophic event, essentially instantaneous when measured in deep, geological time or whether their ultimate die-off was the culmination of long-term evolutionary trends.
Writing in the open-access, on-line journal “Royal Society Open Science”, the researchers which include Professor Paul Barrett (London Natural History Museum) and PhD student Joe Bonsor (University of Bath), used sophisticated Bayesian statistical analysis to model three competing theories against a variety of taxonomies and phylogenies representing the Dinosauria.
In essence, the study set out to test the match between three competing hypotheses with regards to the dinosaur species-richness during the Late Cretaceous:
1). No evidence of a global downturn in dinosaur speciation rates prior to the end of the Mesozoic.
2). There was a decline in dinosaur species-richness over a timescale of hundreds of thousands or several million years prior to the bolide impact due to the effect of climate change, rising sea levels and the Deccan flood basalt volcanism (plus other factors).
3). That the Dinosauria were in global decline with falling speciation rates from around 100 million years ago.
Twelve Phylogenies Analysed
Bayesian statistical analysis was used to assess the fit of twelve dinosaur phylogenies from various authors. The researchers did not find strong support for the downturn model in their analyses, which suggests that dinosaur speciation rates were not in terminal decline prior to the K-Pg boundary and that the Dinosauria was still capable of generating new taxa and evolving into new species to exploit resources and environmental opportunities.
Dinosaurs Dominated Terrestrial Ecosystems
A dinosaur dominated ecosystem (northern China in the Late Cretaceous). The study found no strong evidence to support the idea that the Dinosaur were in either long-term or short-term decline prior to the K-Pg extinction event.
Picture credit: Zhao Chuang
Urging Caution
The researchers did urge caution when it came to interpreting the results of the models stating that they may be too simplified and therefore not able to reflect the complexities of the underlying data. To help confirm the state of dinosaur populations prior to the K-Pg extinction event the research team concluded that the collection of more dinosaur occurrence data would be needed to test these ideas and to validate any proposed hypothesis.
The scientific paper: “Dinosaur diversification rates were not in decline prior to the K-Pg boundary” by Joseph A. Bonsor, Paul M. Barret, Thomas J. Raven and Natalie Cooper published by Royal Society Open Science.
We are sorry to announce that the arrival of the Rebor Fossil Studies set of 3 skulls has been once again delayed. We are expecting them imminently but at the moment due to COVID-19, air freight has all but ceased and as virtually all goods are now being shipped there are extensive delays at ports. With many parts of the world in lockdown, demand for mail order logistics has increased exponentially and this has increased the pressure on an already overloaded system. We have been trying to get information about delivery of the Rebor fossil skulls to our warehouse. These updates are intermittent and we have not been able to receive the regular updates we wanted.
Three Models to Choose From (Rebor Fossil Skulls)
The Eagerly Anticipated Rebor Oddities Fossil Skulls – Ceratosaurus, Carnotaurus and Yutyrannus
The first batch of Rebor Oddities Fossil Skulls consists of a trio of skull replicas namely Yutyrannus, Ceratosaurus and Carnotaurus. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.
We have put back the pre-order release date for these items to 12 noon (GMT) on the 1st December (2020). We apologise for this and let me assure you that the team members at Everything Dinosaur are doing all they can to expediate the arrival of these eagerly anticipated models.
As soon as the items arrive, we will of course, be working extremely hard on your behalf to get these figures packed and despatched as rapidly as possible.
Carnotaurus, Ceratosaurus and Yutyrannus
The Rebor Oddities Fossil Studies Carnotaurus sastrei, the Rebor Oddities Fossil Studies Ceratosaurus dentisculcatus and the Rebor Oddities Fossil Studies Yutyrannus huali figures have all been delayed. This means that those customers who had taken advantage of our special offer and pre-ordered the set of three skull replicas together will have to be patient for a little while longer.
A spokesperson from Everything Dinosaur commented:
“We apologise for the inconvenience. Team members are doing all they can to help bring in these eagerly anticipated Rebor models into our warehouse, unfortunately with the COVID-19 pandemic and the enormous problems with logistics at the moment, delays are inevitable. However, we have successfully been able to bring in shipments of other prehistoric animal figures, so we are confident that this matter will be resolved soon.”
