Dinosaur and Prehistoric Animal News Stories

Fossil finds, new dinosaur discoveries, news and views from the world of palaeontology and other Earth sciences.

23 06, 2014

Europasaurus – Puzzles over a Shrinking Dinosaur as New Research is Published

By Mike|2024-05-02T06:10:17+01:00June 23rd, 2014|Categories: Dinosaur and Prehistoric Animal News Stories, Main Page|0 Comments

Skull Study of Europasaurus Fossils Throws Up Jurassic Puzzle

A study of the skulls of a Late Jurassic dwarf sauropod whose fossils have been found in Germany, has thrown up some intriguing questions about how sauropods came to be small. Sauropods were herbivorous, saurischian (lizard-hipped), dinosaurs with small heads, long necks, massive bodies and long tails. As a group, they evolved sometime in the Late Triassic and survived until the very end of the Age of Reptiles. Typical well known sauropods are the likes of Diplodocus, Apatosaurus and Brachiosaurus, some genera of the Sauropoda represent the largest land living animals known to science.

Europasaurus Fossils

However, with the Sauropoda, big is not always beautiful. This new research, published in the “Journal of Systematic Palaeontology”, focuses on a dwarf, a dinosaur named Europasaurus (E. holgeri), which although related to the likes of Brachiosaurus was substantially smaller. The study suggests there were actually two dwarf forms of Europasaurus.

An Illustration of the Late Jurassic Sauropod Europasaurus

Dwarf dinosaur from Germany. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

From a Limestone Quarry in Germany

In 1998, the fossilised remains of a group of sauropods was discovered in a limestone quarry in Lower Saxony (Germany). At first, these fossils, thought at the time to represent at least eleven individuals, were considered to be a group of baby dinosaurs. However, later studies proved that the largest of the dinosaurs found were adults and fully grown. The fossils represented dinosaurs that ranged in size from Shetland pony size up to around six metres in length.

Europasaurus was classified as a dwarf member of the Brachiosauridae family, closely related to enormous dinosaurs such as Lusotitan from Portugal, but much smaller in stature, with even the very biggest specimens weighing no more than a tonne.

Recently, Bullyland of Germany produced a scale model of this remarkable dinosaur, to see Everything Dinosaur’s video review of the model: Europasaurus Model Review.

How did these relatively small dinosaurs evolve? The most widely accepted theory, one that is backed up with observations amongst living vertebrates today, goes like this. Once upon a time, back in the Kimmeridgian faunal stage of the Late Jurassic (around 154 million years ago), much of Europe was underwater.

An Island Dweller

There was an archipelago of small islands off the coast, this land had been part of the mainland but rising sea levels had isolated it and left a string of islands as the only landmasses surrounded by a warm, tropical sea. Dinosaurs cut off from the mainland adapted to their new island homes by becoming dwarf forms of their mainland cousins. These islands had limited food resources and so the sauropod population slowly evolved into miniaturised forms.

To view the range of Bullyland prehistoric animal models: Bullyland Prehistoric World Models.

Skull fossils of sauropods are exceptionally rare in the fossil record. Those small heads tend to fall off the long necks when the animal dies and the body begins to rot. Very few skull fossils of sauropods are known, so the bone bed of Europasaurus fossils with perhaps as many as fourteen skulls of various sizes to study would be an ideal place to start when looking into how the heads of dinosaurs changed shape as they grew and matured. This is exactly what a the team of scientists based in the University of Bonn set out to do in collaboration with colleagues from Argentina.

A Drawing of the Skull of an Adult Europasaurus

Looking at how skull shape of sauropods change as they grew.

Picture credit: Jean Sebastian Marpmann et al

The diagram above shows the skull of an adult Europasaurus drawn in (A) lateral view, (B) viewed from the back and (C) in dorsal view, that is, seen from above. The research team identified that the skull morphology (shape) was most unusual. It seems that fully grown adults retained skull characteristics of juveniles.

They had proportionately larger eye sockets and some parts of the skull bones were not fully fused. Intriguingly, this analysis confirmed the findings of an earlier study that looked at the collection of vertebrae (bones from the spine) found in the quarry. The vertebrae study suggested that the Europasaurus fossils could be split into two, distinct groups – a small dwarf and a larger dwarf. The larger dwarves were up to 35% bigger than the smaller forms.

One of the authors of the scientific paper, Professor Martin Sander at the Steinmann-Institute of Geology, Mineralogy and Palaeontology (University of Bonn), explained how the skull study was conducted:

“Bone microstructure tells us that the largest of the two kinds of Europasaurus was fully grown. To find this out, we had to grind samples of Europasaurus bones into thin slices, about one-twentieth of a millimetre in thickness.”

Such small, thin samples allow researchers to examine the bones’ microstructure as the bone becomes translucent and can be studied under a microscope. Given the number of skulls fossils available to study, the team were able to plot changes in skull shape as the animal grew and developed. In total 123 skull bones were examined.

However, the mystery of why there are two sorts of dwarf dinosaur remains.

A number of theories have been proposed and team members at Everything Dinosaur have summarised them below, what do you think?

We have two types of Europasaurus preserved in the quarry because one set of fossils represent males, whilst the other group are females.

We have two types of Europasaurus preserved in the quarry because the fossils, all of which were washed out to sea, represent two distinct populations from nearby islands whose remains got caught in the same currents and deposited in the same location.

We have two types of Europasaurus because the quarry has preserved two different populations, they both died in flood events and were washed out to sea but these events were separated by thousands of years.

The bones in the quarry represent a range of individuals of different ages from youngsters to fully grown adults, with the medium-sized dinosaurs (the teenagers and young adults) not present. Perhaps immature and young ,adult Europasaurus lived outside the herd in their own groups, as seen with young African elephant males today. Young male, African elephants tend to form their own herds away from the larger female dominated herd.

Perhaps the bonebed represents two distinct species of Europasaurus (E. holgeri major and E. holgeri minor)?

There could be other explanations of course, but this is a case of one palaeontology study raising more questions than it answers. The research team included Professor Martin Sander, the scientist who perhaps more than anyone knows most about this strange enigmatic German dinosaur. For it was Martin, who as a young researcher at the University of Bonn, who first recognised that the limestone quarry sauropod fossils were not babies but represented a dwarf form and indeed, it was Martin and his colleagues who were responsible for formally naming and describing this genus back in 2006.

Two Dwarf Forms of Europasaurus

Two types of Europasaurus? Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

For models and replicas of brachiosaurids (whilst stocks last) and other prehistoric animals: CollectA Deluxe Prehistoric World.

This new research has contributed significantly to our understanding of how Europasaurus grew and developed. In addition, it is part of a bigger research project that sets out to explore how dwarfism can occur in the Dinosauria. It is likely that the fossils of Europasaurus will be involved in many more studies and the researchers are hopeful that further sauropod remains will be found in the quarry and nearby sites in the future.

22 06, 2014

Largest Silurian Vertebrate Discovered to Date

By Mike|2023-03-13T19:40:16+00:00June 22nd, 2014|Categories: Dinosaur and Prehistoric Animal News Stories, Main Page, Palaeontological articles|0 Comments

Megamastax – Silurian Equivalent of “Jaws”

A team of scientists from Flinders University (Adelaide, South Australia) and the Institute of Vertebrate Palaeontology and Palaeoanthropology (Beijing), have announced the discovery of a new genus of primitive fish from the Silurian-aged deposits of Yunnan Province (south-western, China). There have been a number of ancient fish species described from Chinese excavations in recent years, but there has been nothing like this fish ever found before, for a start it is at least three times as big as any other Silurian vertebrate and it had a mouth and teeth designed for eating other marine creatures. This was the Silurian equivalent of Tyrannosaurus rex, an apex predator that swam in a warm, tropical sea some 423 million years ago.

The prehistoric predator has been named Megamastax amblyodus, the name means “big mouth with blunt teeth”, one of the lead researchers and authors of the scientific paper on this new carnivore, Dr Brian Choo, describes Megamastax as a member of the sarcopterygians or lobe-finned fish, the group of jawed vertebrates that are believed to have given rise to the tetrapods (four-legged, land animals and our own ancestors).

Scientists now think that the sarcopterygians evolved in the Late Silurian and rapidly diversified, out competing the jawless fish (the agnathans). Fossils found in Yunnan Province in the late 1990s proved that the sarcopterygians did indeed have Silurian origins and they did not evolve in the later Devonian as previously thought, however, the discovery of a relative giant throws up some intriguing questions. For example, did the sarcopterygians evolve earlier, or did they diversify extremely rapidly giving rise to a myriad of new forms including apex predators.

An Artist’s Illustration of Megamastax amblyodus

Megamastax terrorises a group of jawless fish.

Picture credit: Dr Brian Choo

Three specimens have been found so far, the largest had a jaw seventeen centimetres long and a total body length of around one metre. In the picture above, M. amblyodus is pictured attacking and feeding on a shoal of agnathans (Dunyu longiforus). This discovery challenges the assumption that large vertebrates did not evolve until the Devonian, Dr Choo commented:

“It’s always been thought that Silurian fish were all small because, until now, no fossils of species more than 30 cm or so in length have ever been discovered. But from the site in Yunnan, near the city of Qujing, we uncovered a diverse collection of jawed fish from Silurian sediments, including the new Megamastax, a predator vastly larger than any other vertebrate known from this age.”

Not only does this new fossil discovery change views on marine ecosystems, but it adds a twist to the current debate about the palaeoclimate of Earth. With only small vertebrates found, scientists thought that there was not enough atmospheric oxygen to permit the evolution of large back-boned animals.

Dr Choo, a post-graduate research fellow at Flinders University explains:

“As modern large fish tend to be more sensitive to oxygen availability than smaller ones, the apparent absence of big Silurian fishes has been used to calibrate some models of Earth’s atmospheric history, with supposedly lower oxygen levels restricting body size prior to the Devonian. However, evidence of a one- metre-long fish swimming about 423 million years ago strongly refutes the idea.”

Megamastax would have competed with larger genera of eurypterids (sea-scorpions) for food resources, some palaeontologists have argued that it was the evolution of large, jawed fishes that led to the demise of many forms of marine arthropod, including the sea-scorpions and many types of trilobite. The rocks that make up the Silurian deposits of Yunnan Province were formed in a shallow sea that made up part of the colossal Panthallassic Ocean that covered virtually all of the Eastern Hemisphere. Yunnan Province lay at the bottom of this shallow sea some more than a thousand miles west of its current location.

Holotype Fossil Material, Jaws and Teeth in Close Up

Hypothetical silhouettes of M. amblyodus.

Picture credit: Dr Choo et al

The picture above shows pictures of the holotype jaw (IVPP V18499.1) in various views (A) lateral view, outside of jaw, (B) lingual (inside of the mouth view), (C) dorsal view, from the top and (D) close up of marginal teeth. Picture (E) shows a close up of the dentition if viewed from the inside of the mouth – lingual view. Figures F to H show views of the second partial jaw recovered (F = lateral, G = lingual, H = dorsal). Picture I shows the third jaw fragment (V18499.3) viewed from the side (lateral view).

The drawings labelled J1 represents a genus of Silurian fish found in the same layer of strata as M. amblyodus, Guiyu oneiros, G. oneiros may have been the prey. Drawings J2 and J3 represent suggested silhouettes for this new Silurian predator, the smaller sized specimen (J2) is based on smaller jaw fossils, whilst J3 is based on the largest jaw fragment found.

Key to Diagram

Co 1–4, coronoids 1–4; coT 1–8, coronoid teeth 1–8; De, dentary; fo.add, adductor fossa; fo.gl, glenoid fossa; fo.Mk, Meckelian foramen; Id, infradentary; mpl, mandibular pit line; maT, marginal teeth; oaMx, overlap area for maxilla and quadratojugal; Pat, prearticular; sym, area for parasymphysial plate; tr, indented track bordering splenial.

Dr Choo added:

“While by themselves, these fossils do not give an exact indication of what the atmosphere was like in the Silurian, they are still a significant new piece of the puzzle that will be incorporated into further research. These new fossils from Yunnan represent one of the earliest well-documented vertebrate faunas and demonstrate that fish from the latter part of the Silurian were already big and varied, clearly the result of an extended span of evolution. Unfortunately, the only fossils of jawed fish from much older sediments are a few tantalising fragments. There is a much deeper history about which we currently know very little.”

21 06, 2014

Mercuriceratops gemini – New Horned Dinosaur from North America

By Mike|2023-03-13T19:38:04+00:00June 21st, 2014|Categories: Dinosaur and Prehistoric Animal News Stories, Main Page, Palaeontological articles|2 Comments

Mercuriceratops gemini – Incredible Diversity of Late Cretaceous Ceratopsians

Researchers have described a new genus of ceratopsian, based on fossils excavated from Montana (western United States) and Alberta (Canada). The dinosaur has been named Mercuriceratops (M. gemini) and when fully grown, this heavy-weight herbivore, would have weighed as much as an Asian elephant and measured around six metres in length. Mercuriceratops lived around seventy-seven million years ago (mid Campanian faunal stage) and the formal, scientific paper describing this new genus has been published in the journal Naturwissenschaften (the science of nature).

Mercuriceratops gemini

Mercuriceratops (pronounced Murr-cure-ree-sera-tops), means “Mercury horned face”, this chasmosaurine has been named after the wing-like protrusions on the side of its neck frill. The “wings” are formed from the squamosal skull bones which are hatchet shaped and stick out from the side in a much more prominent manner than in any other known species of ceratopsian. In addition, the the back of the squamosal is modified to form a narrow bar that would have supported the side of a very robust parietal skull bone. These unusually shaped squamosals reminded the research team of the wings on the helmet of the Roman god Mercury.

An Illustration of Mercuriceratops gemini

The “winged” squamosal bones on Mercuriceratops.

Picture credit: Danielle Dufault

A Member of the Chasmosaurinae

Related to chasmosaurines such as Pentaceratops and Triceratops, the research team have proposed that this dinosaur too, had two long brow horns and a shorter nose horn, just like the later chasmosaurine dinosaurs Pentaceratops and Triceratops. Two large horns over the eyes (brow horns) is very typical of the Chasmosaurinae.

Models of the Chasmosaurine Dinosaurs Pentaceratops (left) Triceratops (right)

Pentaceratops model is on the left. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

The picture above show models of typical chasmosaurine dinosaurs, note the large horns over the eyes. The models are from the Schleich World of History Model series.

To view Schleich’s range of prehistoric animal models: Schleich Prehistoric Animal Models.

The trivial or specific name – “gemini” refers to the almost identical fossil specimens that were found and led to the description of this new genus of horned dinosaur. One fossilised squamosal bone comes from Upper Cretaceous strata of north, central Montana, the second comes from rocks found in the famous Dinosaur Provincial Park Formation of Alberta. Mercuriceratops represents the oldest chasmosaurine dinosaur known from Canada and the first pre-Maastrichtian ceratopsian to have been found in both the USA and Canada.

A Picture Showing the Two Squamosal Bones (right side of the skull)

Bizarrely shaped squamosal bones.

Picture credit: Naturwissenschaften

Unusual Squamosal Bones

Commenting on the unusual shape of the squamosal bones, lead author of the scientific paper Dr Michael Ryan (Curator of Vertebrate palaeontology at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History), stated:

“Mercuriceratops took a unique evolutionary path that shaped the large frill on the back of its skull into protruding wings like the decorative fins on classic 1950’s cars. It definitively would have stood out from the herd during the Late Cretaceous. Horned dinosaurs in North America used their elaborate skull ornamentation to identify each other and to attract mates, not just for protection from predators. The wing-like protrusions on the sides of its frill may have offered male Mercuriceratops a competitive advantage in attracting mates.”

Recently, palaeontologists have begun to piece together a picture of the North American fauna in the Late Cretaceous. The fauna of Laramidia (the long, narrow strip of land that made up the western shores of the Western Interior Seaway), was extremely varied. This newly named dinosaur genus reinforces the biogeographical differences between the northern and southern faunal provinces of the Campanian of North America. Having said that, this dinosaur must have been quite wide ranging with something like 380 kilometres between the two fossil finds.

Co-author of the Naturwissenschaften paper, Dr David Evans (Royal Ontario Museum), explained:

“The butterfly-shaped frill, or neck shield, of Mercuriceratops is unlike anything we have seen before. Mercuriceratops shows that evolution gave rise to much greater variation in horned dinosaur headgear than we had previously suspected.”

The new dinosaur is described from skull fragments from two individuals collected from the Judith River Formation of Montana and the Dinosaur Park Formation of Alberta. The Montana specimen was originally collected on private land and acquired by the Royal Ontario Museum. The Dinosaur Provincial Park specimen was collected by Susan Owen-Kagen, a preparator in Professor Philip Currie’s lab at the University of Alberta.

Dr Ryan added:

“Susan showed me her specimen during one of my trips to Alberta. I instantly recognized it as being from the same type of dinosaur that the Royal Ontario Museum had from Montana.”

For Philip Currie, the Dinosaur Provincial Park specimen confirmed the the Montana fossil was a true and accurate representation of the dinosaur’s squamosal. In many instances, fossilised bones can become distorted and crushed as a result of the fossilisation process. The altered morphology can lead to a great deal of confusion when it comes to identifying characteristics. Pathology such as disease or damage to the bone that occurred when the animal was alive could also have led to the strange shape of the squamosal, however, with two squamosals from the right side of the skull being virtually identical there is a very strong probability that these fossils represent a new chasmosaurine with a unique neck crest shape.

As the eminent Canadian palaeontologist Philip Currie noted:

“The two fossils – squamosal bones from the side of the frill, have all the features you would expect, just presented in a unique shape.”

A Picture of the Dig Site (Dinosaur Provincial Park – Alberta)

The red arrow in the picture highlights the Mercuriceratops layer.

Picture credit: Professor Phil Currie (University of Alberta)

Dr Mark Loewen (Natural History Museum of Utah), another co-author of the paper added:

“This discovery of a previously unknown species in relatively well-studied rocks underscores that we still have many more new species of dinosaurs to left to find.”

The wing-like flanges would have made a striking visual image, especially if the head and neck of these dinosaurs were brightly coloured. The horns too, although, undoubtedly used for defence and intra-specific combat would also have played a role in signalling amongst members of the herd.

The ceratopsians are spilt into two distinct groups, the Chasmosaurinae which were characterised by having long neck frills and in most cases short nasal horns but large brow horns. The second group are known as the centrosaurines, or the short-frilled ceratopsians. This does not mean that the frills on this group were small, most of the centrosaurines had frills that were heavily augmented with spikes and horns. These dinosaurs tended to have short brow horns but with larger nose horns as a general rule. Both types of ceratopsian were very common in North America during the Late Cretaceous and a number of different genera have been identified.

The Frill Size and Ornamentation of Mercuriceratops Compared to a Typcial Centrosaurine and Chasmosaurine

Centrosaurus (left) and Chasmosaurus (right).

Picture credit: Danielle Dufault

CollectA introduced a model of Mercuriceratops (M. gemini) into their Prehistoric Life model range in 2016.

The CollectA Mercuriceratops Dinosaur Model

Wonderful horned dinosaur replica.

To view the CollectA Prehistoric Life range: CollectA Prehistoric Life Models and Figures.

Everything Dinosaur acknowledges the help of the press room at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History in the compiling of this article.

16 06, 2014

Prehistoric Kingdom – Exciting Prehistoric Theme Park in Development

By Mike|2023-03-13T19:02:16+00:00June 16th, 2014|Categories: Dinosaur and Prehistoric Animal News Stories, Dinosaur Fans, Main Page|1 Comment

Prehistoric Theme Park Management Simulation – “Prehistoric Kingdom”

For anyone with a hankering to construct their own prehistoric theme park, then it seems you are not alone, as a team of dedicated dinosaur fans are busy creating a park management simulation game that will enable you to build the dino park of your dreams!

Based on an island, (a sensible precaution considering what can happen when dinosaurs get hungry), the concept of the game is simple, develop, maintain and sustain your very own prehistoric park.

One of the Images that Highlight the Approach to the Theme Park Island

Fantastic graphics!

Picture credit: Prehistoric Kingdom

Prehistoric Kingdom

The dedicated and highly talented team behind plans to develop this not for profit simulation game have been busy sorting out which dinosaurs are going to be included in the game matrix. Expect some non-dinosaurian animals too, we heard mention of a Sabre-toothed cat as well as pterosaurs and marine reptiles. Looks like budding dinosaur theme park managers are going to have their work cut out dealing with such an extensive inventory of once extinct creatures.

Max Wood (Public Relations Manager at Prehistoric Kingdom), explains:

“Prehistoric Kingdom is a Indie developed project looking to make its stamp on the Tycoon genre with its free build system and endless customisation options. If you dream it you should be able to build it. Over the past couple of weeks the project has taken several steps in the right direction towards a successful kick starter campaign. Those advances would include polishing of the tech demo island , finalising a creature roster and getting fan feedback on numerous discussions. Everyone on the development team is excited to also announce that we have begun creation of a official Prehistoric Kingdom trailer highlighting future announcements and ideas.”

The game design and programming team working in conjunction with the animators have been building a number of different prehistoric habitats for the park’s animals to explore. Different types of creature are going to require different environments, but all the locations are going to need security, park managers will need to think carefully about how the security of the park is going to be developed (lesson for John Hammond, the CEO and creator of Jurassic Park, here we think).

Development of a Variety of Environments within Prehistoric Kingdom

A peaceful scene in the prehistoric kingdom.

Picture credit: Prehistoric Kingdom

Max went on to add:

“This is a exciting time for everyone and anyone that follows the project as updates come in around the clock. The future of Prehistoric Tycoons is closer then you think!”

One of the trial habitats currently in development is a relatively open, wooded area with access to a large lake. Conifers dominate the tree population with the under storey consisting of tree ferns such as cycads. This environment provides plenty of grazing and browsing opportunities, perhaps this could be a good location to site the Sauropoda, along with stegosaurs.

One of the Trial Habitats with Abundant Plant Food Resources

An example of an environment ideal for “niche partitioning”.

Picture credit: Prehistoric Kingdom

A number of scientists have been exploring dinosaur dominated ecosystems, such as that preserved in the famous Dinosaur Provincial Park Formation (Alberta, Canada). We know that a number of large, herbivorous dinosaurs happily co-existed and it is very likely that each type of dinosaur specialised in feeding on certain types of plants. Armoured dinosaurs were probably grazers, whilst ceratopsians, the horned dinosaurs, were probably low browsers of bushes, cycads and trees. Hadrosaurs, as facultative bipeds, were probably specialised high browsers, content to feed on the branches of trees that other herbivores could not reach. This concept of different feeding specialisations within a habitat is called “niche partitioning”.

With Prehistoric Kingdom, gamers will have the chance to create their own combinations of fauna and flora.

Prehistoric Kingdom Logo

The Prehistoric Kingdom logo.

Picture credit: Prehistoric Kingdom

The concept for this simulation can be described as – a land lost by time, an island long forgotten with potential untapped. There are no limits, no boundaries, just pure creativity. Build the theme park of your dreams with creatures ranging across several geological periods.

Expect Jurassic Theropods to Feature

Comparing the PNSO Ceratosaurus dinosaur model with the CollectA Deluxe Ceratosaurus. Typical Jurassic theropods. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

For dinosaurs and prehistoric animal figures: Models of Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Animals.

A spokesperson from Everything Dinosaur commented:

“This is an impressive project being developed by a highly talented team. To keep the prehistoric kingdom a success, participants are going to have to consider a variety of management as well as animal welfare issues. We welcome such activities as games such as this help to inform and educate as well as to entertain.”

14 06, 2014

Goldilocks and Dinosaurs (Warm-blooded/Cold-blooded Debate)

By Mike|2023-03-13T18:26:23+00:00June 14th, 2014|Categories: Dinosaur and Prehistoric Animal News Stories, Dinosaur Fans, Main Page, Palaeontological articles|0 Comments

Warm-blooded or Cold-blooded Dinosaurs?

In the fairy tale Goldilocks and the three bears our heroine comes across three bowls of porridge in the bear’s house. One bowl is too cold, another too hot, but the third is just right at a temperature somewhere in between. Thanks to an exhaustive study undertaken by a team of American researchers, palaeontologists can apply the “Goldilocks analogy” to the study of dinosaur metabolism. In a paper, published in the academic journal “Science”, the authors suggest that the Dinosauria took a “middle of the road” approach when it comes to body temperature.

This new research suggests that dinosaurs were not cold-blooded like crocodiles, nor were they warm-blooded like us, but they were mesothermic, somewhere in-between.

Were the Dinosaurs Warm-blooded or Cold-blooded or Somewhere In-Between?

Warm or Cold-blooded dinosaurs?

Picture credit: Julius Csotonyi

The debate as to whether dinosaurs were cold-blooded (ectothermic) or warm-blooded (endothermic) has gone on for many decades. The first scientists and academics to study dinosaur fossils concluded that these reptiles must have been cold-blooded, like extant reptiles today. Cold-blooded is a very misleading term, the blood of dinosaurs and other ectotherms would not have been cold, this term refers to the fact that organisms which are cold-blooded have no internal mechanism for regulating the temperature of their bodies. They rely on external sources of heat to warm them up and to make them active. For example, lizards and snakes bask in the sun to become warm.

When these creatures get too hot, they seek shade. These ectotherms are capable of bursts of energy, a freshwater crocodile from Australia can easily outrun a person over rough terrain for a short distance, but such strenuous activity is often followed by long periods of rest and recovery.

Warm-blooded organisms, the endotherms, are able to regulate their own body temperature. They can be active whatever the external temperature. The food consumed by mammals and birds enables them to generate heat internally, this means that these sorts of animals are generally much more active than today’s reptiles and amphibians. Endotherms pay a high price for such an ability. Their metabolisms are much higher so they need much more food than an equivalent sized ectotherm.

Predator to Prey Ratios in Previous Studies Suggest Dinosaurs were Endotherms

Predator to prey ratios can help determine metabolic rates. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

A number of research projects have attempted to estimate the ratio of predator species to potential prey preserved in the fossil record. The hypothesis being that if there were a large number of potential prey animals compared to predators this might indicate that those primary and secondary predators may have needed large amounts of food to sustain them. This led to the conclusion that dinosaurs (at least most theropods), were warm-blooded.

New research conducted by University of New Mexico graduate student John Grady in collaboration with colleagues from the Sante Fe Institute and the University of Arizona took a different approach. They assessed the growth rates of extinct and living animals in a bid to provide further insight into the dinosaur warm-blooded or cold-blooded debate. Growth rings were examined in the bones of 381 different animals including 21 different dinosaurs. The idea being that fast growth rates indicates a high metabolism which in turn suggests endothermy.

The database that plotted animal growth rates (ontogeny) and energy use was developed by Grady. He and his colleagues demonstrated that animals that grew quicker required more energy and had higher body temperatures. A benefit of using animals alive today is that such measurements can be taken. When it comes to the dinosaurs, the research team relied on estimated growth rates from palaeontologists who had studied the growth rings identified in fossilised dinosaur bone cut into cross section and examined under a microscope.

Using Dinosaur Bones to Assess Growth Rates

Studying dinosaur bones in cross-section to identify growth rings.

Picture credit: Meike Köhler

Once all the data was plotted, the scientists were able to calculate the rate of dinosaur metabolisms. They concluded that based on this data, dinosaurs were an intermediate form between modern endothermic mammals and ectothermic reptiles.

Commenting on the results, Grady stated:

“Most dinosaurs were probably mesothermic. A thermally intermediate strategy that only a few species – such as the the egg laying Echidna [marsupial] or Great White sharks use today.”

Dinosaurs Found to be Intermediate between Ectotherms and Endotherms

Quantitative analysis suggests the Dinosauria were mesotherms.

Picture credit: University of New Mexico/Science

The simplified diagram above plots the growth rates and projected metabolisms for typical dinosaurs such as Tenontosaurus (ornithopod), a typical tyrannosaurid (theropod) and Apatosaurus (sauropod) against a number of living vertebrates. Warm-blooded animals are highlighted in red, whilst cold-blooded animals are blue. The dinosaurs (in black), seem to have a growth rate that falls in between the cold-blooded reptiles and amphibians and the warm-blooded mammals. The growth rate of dinosaurs seems matched to living mesotherms such as the Tuna, the Leatherback turtle or the Echidna.

This new study has certainly opened up a new avenue of debate. Intriguingly, the team also looked at the growth rates of feathered dinosaurs and primitive birds, they found that both ancient birds and feathered dinosaurs probably grew more slowly than their modern descendants.

The team proposed that Archaeopteryx, a primitive bird from the Late Jurassic (A. lithographica) took two years to reach maturity, some birds living today which are the same size, the Red-tailed Hawk for example, can reach maturity in six weeks. The team concluded, that whilst dinosaurs did not grow as fast as modern birds or mammals, they did grow significantly quicker than extant reptiles.

Student Grady, went on to add:

“This higher energy use probably increased speed and performance. Mesothermic dinosaurs were likely faster predators or better able to flee from danger than the large reptiles found earlier in during the Mesozoic.”

The research team are to be commended for undertaking such an extensive quantitative analysis. Thanks to their research, scientists can have more confidence in the link between metabolic rate and how quickly animals grow. However, the debate over the Dinosauria and how they lived as a result of the ability or inability to regulate their body temperatures is going to rumble on.

Professor Roger Seymour (University of Adelaide), disagrees with the general conclusions made by the American researchers.

He stated:

“They could find only eight species living today that are mesotherms. Doesn’t that suggest that there’s an adaptive value in being either a good ectotherm or a good endotherm, but not in the middle?”

The Dinosauria evolved into a huge variety of forms from massive sauropods to arboreal, theropods, it is quite likely that with such a diverse group that one metabolic strategy “fits all” over simplifies the situation.

One of the issues very large dinosaurs such as Apatosaurus and Diplodocus had was not trying to keep warm, but trying to lose heat from their massive bulk. Such herbivores had vast stomachs and very long intestinal tracts. As plant material was broken down, it very probably fermented and gave off heat. Since for much of the Mesozoic, the Earth was hotter than it is today, keeping cool could have been a major problem for a large dinosaur.

Everything Dinosaur has reported on a number of scientific papers published regarding this debate, to read an article detailing further research into the warm-blooded/cold-blooded controversy by another American team that used analysis of dinosaur teeth to conclude that these animals (some of them at least), might have been endotherms: Dinosaurs Ectotherms or Endotherms?

6 06, 2014

Anthracosuchus balrogus Giant Palaeocene Crocodile Named in New Research

By Mike|2024-05-02T06:13:51+01:00June 6th, 2014|Categories: Dinosaur and Prehistoric Animal News Stories, Dinosaur Fans, Main Page, Palaeontological articles|0 Comments

Columbian Giant Crocodile – Anthracosuchus balrogus

Vertebrate fossils from a coal mine in north-eastern Columbia have provided palaeontologists with a fascinating insight into life in the tropics in the first few million years after the Cretaceous mass extinction event. The dinosaurs may have gone but preserved in the Cerrejón Formation are the remains of giant reptiles who were the apex predators within this rainforest community. A paper has just been published in the scientific journal “Historical Biology” that reports on the discovery of yet another large crocodile genus from this locality, one that probably preyed upon giant turtles, it in turn may have been hunted by Titanoboa, the largest snake known to science.

“Living Fossils”

Crocodiles may be referred to as “living fossils”, a term that most palaeontologists dislike as it suggests that organisms do not change much over time. True, the basic body plan (bauplan) of the crocodilians may not have changed much since the early Mesozoic, but the fossil record shows that crocodiles evolved to occupy a vast array of ecological niches. This new discovery, a crocodile named Anthracosuchus demonstrates this as it had a blunt, short snout, in direct contrast to its long-snouted close relatives.

The new species lived in what was an inland, freshwater environment, an extensive tropical floodplain that was covered in dense jungle and crossed by a number of large rivers which led into the nascent Caribbean Sea. South America was an island, there was also a substantial marine intrusion to the west of the Cerrejón Formation, this marine environment stretching into what is now central Bolivia. Reptiles dominated the ecosystem and at 4.8 metres in length Anthracosuchus, with its very powerful jaws was probably a top predator.

Views of Skull Material Ascribed to this Genus (A. balrogus)

A crocodile with a blunt, broad snout.

Picture credit: Alexander K. Hastings et al

Anthracosuchus balrogus

The picture above shows two of the four fossil skulls assigned to this new genus. The top images are a view of the skulls looking down onto them, viewing the top (dorsal view), the two images underneath are views of the underside of the skulls (ventral view). All the fossil material including limb bones, teeth and osteoderms (armoured scales) were excavated from a clay layer immediately below a layer of coal in the Cerrejón mine.

The fossils date from 58-60 million years ago (Palaeocene). This crocodile has been classed as a member of the dyrosaurid crocodiles, a widely dispersed group of Late Cretaceous/Palaeocene crocodiles that, for the most part are marine and characterised by long, narrow snouts. Here is a member of the Dyrosauridae, with a very different snout and one from strata laid down inland. These types of crocodile are now extinct, it is believed an ancestor of the dyrosaurids was the mighty Sarcosuchus whose fossils are associated with Cretaceous aged strata from Niger (Africa).

Discovered in 2005

The first skull of this new dyrosaurid was discovered in 2005, but the skull was missing its front end. The back of the skull indicated that this type of crocodile probably had a blunt, short snout. This was confirmed in 2007 when a second skull, this time with its front end intact, was found. Two more skulls were excavated later on that year, making the total number of individuals known to be at least four.

The new species of crocodile was discovered by a team of University of Florida researchers, led by Jonathan Bloch, Associate Curator of Vertebrate Palaeontology at the Florida Museum of Natural History, Alexander Hastings (Florida Museum of Natural History), assisted by Carlos Jaramillo, a palaeobotanist with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. All specimens of the new taxon are deposited at the Museo Geológico José Royo y Gómez, Colombian Geological Survey, Bogotá, Colombia. Casts of these specimens are also deposited at the collections of the Florida Museum of Natural History.

“Coal Crocodile”

Anthracosuchus means “coal crocodile”, a reference to the fossil remains being found adjacent to a coal seam. The trivial or specific name is derived from “Balrog”, a fiery demon that features in Tolkien’s “Lord of the Rings”. Balrog inhabited the deep mines of Moria, so since this crocodile’s fossils have been found in a mine, the trivial name is very apt.

A number of crocodile fossils have been found at the Cerrejón site, to read about the discovery of another, related crocodile species: New Crocodile Species in Columbian Mine.

Remains of turtle shells, discovered in close proximity to the crocodile fossils, show signs of damage. There are scratches, most likely made by teeth and also at least one example of a healed bite mark. The scratches and bite marks match the profile of the teeth of A. balrogus, this suggests that this crocodile, related to long-snouted dyrosaurids, adapted to an inland habitat and a diet of turtles.

Fossilised Turtle Carapace Showing Traces of Crocodile Bites

Was this damage caused by a hungry Anthracosuchus?

Picture Credit: Alexander K. Hastings et al

The picture above shows a fragment of shell (A) and a line drawing (C) viewed from above (dorsal view). Picture B and the line drawing D, are the same fragment but this time, viewed from below (ventral view). Potential bite marks (bm) and bone regrowth after a bite (bm&p) are illustrated.

Damage to a Turtle Shell

Picture E and line drawing G are of a fragment of turtle shell viewed from the top that shows further damage, once again bite marks (bm) are indicated. Picture F and its associated line drawing H show another fragment, bite marks and drag marks (dm) are illustrated. Picture I and drawing J show a tooth from Anthracosuchus balrogus is analogous to the damage seen on the turtle shell fragments. Image J and L shows a turtle fragment viewed from the top (dorsal) with bite marks.

Coeval with Titanoboa

This crocodile certainly had a very powerful bite, however, it shared its environment with the largest snake known to science, the immense Titanoboa (T. cerrejonensis). At more than three times the size of Anthracosaurus this constrictor may have preyed upon adult crocodiles. Anthracosaurus in turn, may have hunted and eaten immature Titanoboas. Battles between these large reptiles would have been a spectacular sight.

Titanoboa Tackles a Large Anthracosuchus

Titanoboa tackles the short-snouted Anthracosuchus.

Picture credit: Florida Natural History Museum

To read about the discovery of Titanoboa: Titanoboa – Giant Prehistoric Snake of the Palaeocene.

The Dyrosauridae are one of the very few types of large, marine reptile that survived the Cretaceous mass extinction event. The discovery of a broad-snouted genus in South America will help scientists to identify how these creatures adapted to new environments. It will also help them to piece together how these crocodiles dispersed across much of the globe from their African origins. Fossil evidence suggests that during the Cretaceous, when the Atlantic ocean was not as wide as it is today, there were a number of dispersals of marine dyrosaurid crocodiles from Africa to the Americas. This trend seems to have continued into the early Cenozoic, with migrations east to west during the Palaeocene epoch.

Researchers Map the Dispersal of Dryosaurid Crocodiles from Africa

Dispersal and resulting distribution of dyrosaurid crocodiles.

Picture credit: Alexander K. Hastings et al

5 06, 2014

A Remarkable Forty-Six Ichthyosaur Fossils Discovered in Chile

By Mike|2024-05-02T06:14:26+01:00June 5th, 2014|Categories: Dinosaur and Prehistoric Animal News Stories, Geology, Palaeontological articles|1 Comment

Retreating Glacier Reveals Ichthyosaur Graveyard

A team of German and Chilean researchers have just about finished cataloguing, mapping and recording one of the densest assemblies of ichthyosaur fossils ever found. Scientists from Heidelberg University and the State Museum of Natural History, Karlsruhe, in collaboration with colleagues from a number of scientific institutions in Chile, have identified a total of forty-six, complete or near complete specimens of Early Cretaceous ichthyosaurs (fish-lizards). The fossils represent at least four species, with juveniles, pregnant females and other adult ichthyosaurs having been identified.

Ichthyosaur Fossils

All the ichthyosaur fossils represent ophthalmosaurids and the site is being heralded as the most important location discovered to date in South America that records a marine ecosystem that existed around 140 to 132 million years ago.

One of the Many Ichthyosaur Fossils Found at the Site

Fossilised remains of Early Cretaceous ichthyosaur.

Picture credit: W. Stinnesbeck

In the picture above, the geological hammer provides scale and to the left of the picture elements of a limb and the small pebble-like bones that make up a flipper can clearly be seen. The back-bones and ribs can also be made out. The ichthyosaur specimen has been identified as Platypterygius hauthali.

Discovered as Glacier Retreated

The fossils were found as a glacier retreated in the Torres del Paine National Park, southern Chile. The retreat of the glacier (Tyndall glacier) revealing the fossils could be a case of global warming providing palaeontologists with benefits, affording them a unique insight into an ancient marine ecosystem. Some of the ichthyosaurs are so well preserved that skin tissue imprints have been found, along with the remains of embryos within the body cavity of female ichthyosaurs. Such is the concentration of “fish lizard” remains, that the Tyndall glacier location has been heralded as amongst the prime fossil Lagerstätten for Early Cretaceous marine reptiles worldwide.

The Remote and Beautiful Tyndall Glacier (southern Chile)

Retreating glacier reveals fossil remains.

Picture credit: W. Stinnesbeck

Fast-swimming, Predatory Marine Reptiles

Ichthyosaurs were an Order of fast-swimming, nektonic and predatory marine reptiles with dolphin-shaped bodies. They evolved in the Early Triassic and survived into the Late Cretaceous, eventually dying out as a group around eighty million years ago. It is now thought ophthalmosaurid ichthyosaurs like most other ichthyosaurs, were viviparous, that is, the females retained fertilised eggs inside their body, until the embryos were sufficiently well developed to be born directly into the sea.

A Model of a Typical Ichthyosaur

Ichthyosaurus model (Carnegie Collectibles).

Picture credit: Safari Ltd

The first fossils were discovered in 2004 as scientists were mapping the retreat of the glacier. It has taken a total of three major field expeditions for all the ichthyosaur material exposed at the site to be mapped and catalogued. An academic paper detailing the research has been published in the scientific journal “The Bulletin of the Geological Society of America”.

Alongside, the remains of the reptiles, the research team found ammonites, belemnites, bivalves and marine fish fossils. In addition, there were plant fossils also preserved. The ichthyosaurs were not found at the same level in the strata, but scattered throughout the Formation Member at several levels indicating mass mortality events occurring in this marine ecosystem from time to time.

A Diagram Representing the Deposition of the Strata and Indicating the Location of Ichthyosaur Fossils

Evidence of mass mortality events in the ecosystem.

Picture credit: W. Stinnesbeck

Interpreting the Geology

The joint German and Chilean research team have interpreted the geology of this location thus:

The gregarious ichthyosaurs lived and hunted along the north-eastern edge of a deep sea that then separated the Antarctic continent from the southern tip of South America. Cold water rising up from the depths of a deep underwater canyon provided nutrients to sustain a large population of primary producers such as plankton. These were fed upon by large shoals of bony fish and belemnites. The ichthyosaurs in turn hunted the fish and the cephalopods.

With the rifting of the sea floor as geological forces gradually extended the Atlantic Ocean, there were a great number of earthquakes. Some of these earthquakes were powerful enough to set off underwater avalanches that swept marine organisms down the steep slopes into the deeper water. This led to the formation of several “ichthyosaur graveyards”.

Commenting on the significance of this discovery, one of the lead authors of the research paper, Professor Dr Wolfgang Stinnesbeck, Institute of Earth Sciences (Heidelberg University) stated:

“Occasionally, high energy turbiditic mudflows sucked down everything in their reach, including ichthyosaurs. Inside the suspension flows, the air-breathing reptiles lost orientation and finally drowned. They were instantly buried in the abyss at the bottom of the canyon.”

The speed of burial and the lack of oxygen in the mud layers permitted the exceptional degree of preservation.

The professor went added:

“The deposit is Early Cretaceous in age [Valanginian to Hauterivian faunal stage] and forms part of a deep water sequence located in the Rocas Verdes Basin, a straight separating Antarctica and South America from Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous times.

4 06, 2014

American Fossil Dealer Jailed for Dinosaur Smuggling – A Big and Helpful Success for the Authorities

By Mike|2024-04-12T09:10:40+01:00June 4th, 2014|Categories: Dinosaur and Prehistoric Animal News Stories, Main Page, Palaeontological articles|0 Comments

Fossil Smuggler Receives Prison Sentence

Yesterday, fossil dealer Eric Prokopi was sentenced to three months in a federal prison, plus fifteen months of supervised release for entry of goods by means of false statements, conspiracy and interstate and foreign transportation of goods converted and taken by fraud. What ended in a Manhattan court room, had begun back on May 20th 2012, in a New York auction house, when a mounted specimen of a fearsome meat-eating dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous was sold. Everything Dinosaur reported on the sale of the almost complete fossil skeleton of a tyrannosaur known as Tarbosaurus bataar. The specimen sold for over $1 million USD (£630,000 GBP), but even before the auctioneer brought down the gavel, suspicions had been raised as to the origins of the specimen.

Fossil Dealer

Tarbosaurus, a close relative of the North American Tyrannosaurus rex is known from fossil material excavated from Upper Cretaceous aged sediments found in Mongolia. Specifically, this predator’s fossil remains are associated with strata making up part of the Nemegt Formation. It has been against the law in Mongolia to remove from the country fossils or any other artefacts regarded as culturally significant. This law has been in effect for more than fifty years, it existed even before the formal scientific description and review of the fossilised bones and teeth that led to establishment of the Tarbosaurus genus.

To read more about the New York auction: Tyrannosaurid fossil up for auction.

Seized by the U.S. Customs and Immigration Officials

The mounted fossil was seized by U.S. custom and immigration officials and in May of last year, we reported on this specimen’s safe return to Mongolia, such had been the profile surrounding this Late Cretaceous dinosaur that even the President of Mongolia ( Elbegdorj Tsakhia), had become involved and lobbied for the fossil material to be returned back to the Asian country.

For an article about the return of the fossils: Handing a Dinosaur Over to Mongolian Officials.

The prosecution had claimed that between 2010 and 2012, Mr Prokopi had acquired and subsequently smuggled into the United States a collection of fossilised dinosaur bones, including two specimens of Tarbosaurus bataar, the remains of two duck-billed dinosaurs belonging the the Saurolophus genus, one of which was subsequently sold at auction but confiscated by U.S. customs and the remains of two Oviraptors. In addition, it was alleged that in 2010 false documentation was used to import from China the remains of a feathered dinosaur.

Mr Prokopi, who had admitted to a number of charges when he appeared in court in December of last year, learned his fate yesterday. A self-styled “commercial palaeontologist”, referred to by prosecutors as a “one man black market in prehistoric fossils”, Mr Prokopi’s sentence will hopefully act as a deterrent to anyone considering or already engaged in fossil smuggling.

The Tarbosaurus Skeleton Offered for Auction in New York (May 2012)

Back in Mongolia. The mounted skeleton offered for auction. Picture credit: Reuters/Heritage Auctions.

The defendant stated:

“I sincerely love fossils. What I did was wrong and I failed to appreciate the gravity of what I have done.”

United States District Judge, Alvin Hellerstein commented that a prison term would send a message to others engaged in the field of commercial palaeontology. With the high prices that dinosaur fossils fetch on the black market, no one knows for sure the extent of fossil smuggling activities. However, it has long been suspected that criminal gangs are involved and that the practice of fossil thefts and illegal sales is actually widespread.

In a statement the Judge added:

“He [Eric Prokopi] is clearly not a bad person, but he has done a bad thing.”

The sentence handed down to Mr Prokopi, could have been far worse. However, the fact that a lot of the fossil material was recovered and that the defendant co-operated with State officials helping with investigations into other suspected cases of fossil smuggling was taken into account when the punishment was decided. There are currently a number of investigations on going in New York, Wyoming and California.

But what news of the other Tarbosaurus specimen. Everything Dinosaur team members have been led to believe that this specimen was sold and has ended up in the United Kingdom, however, this fossil has yet to be recovered. Police in the UK have so far been unable to locate the second Tarbosaurus specimen. It too would belong to the people of Mongolia and if found it would most likely be confiscated and returned to Asia.

Although the fossils procured by Mr Prokopi fetched high prices when they were sold, he has forfeited all the proceeds that resulted from the criminal activities. He has also forfeited the fossilised skeletons and any other Mongolian fossil material that entered the United States between 2010 and 2012.

A spokes person for Everything Dinosaur commented:

“Hopefully, the extensive publicity that this case has attracted will deter fossil smugglers and fossil thieves. Although, given the high prices that such material can make, it is very likely that the illegal sale of ancient artefacts is going to become an ever increasing problem.”

Visit Everything Dinosaur’s website: Everything Dinosaur.

31 05, 2014

New Research Leads Palaeontology Enters the “Metal Age”

By Mike|2024-04-12T09:12:08+01:00May 31st, 2014|Categories: Dinosaur and Prehistoric Animal News Stories, Main Page, Palaeontological articles|0 Comments

Exploring the Metallome of Ancient Leaves Provides Insight into Plant Biochemistry

Readers may be familiar with the term genome, the genetic material that relates to an organism. The word genome is believed to be derived from the words – gene (the molecular unit of heredity of an organism) and chromosome (the rod-like structures of DNA and protein found in the nuclei of cells that carry the genetic information in the form of genes). Genome mapping has provided palaeontology with a whole new field of science to explore, plotting the genetic relationships between organisms as well attempts to recover viable organic material from fossils for further study.

This is exciting stuff, for example, last year Everything Dinosaur reported on the work of a team of international researchers who had been able to extract partial genome data from the 700,000-year-old fossils of an ancient horse.

To read more about this research: Ancient Fossil Decodes Horse Evolution.

Exploring the Metallome

However, preserved with fossil material and only accessible to science via the use of some astonishingly sophisticated technology lies another group of substances that can provide researchers with new information on organisms that lived long ago. These are metallic elements and scientists from the University of Manchester are leading the world in research on the metal constituents of fossil and living organisms, the quest to plot the metallome is on!

Virtually every living organism has metallic elements within it, elements such as Iron, Zinc, Copper and Nickel. These metals can be used as catalysts for biological processes, as important components of biosynthetic pathways used to produce important molecules, or simply be stored for use in other biological reactions.

Important New Information from the Fossil Record

We might be classed as carbon based life forms (carbon makes up about 18% of the typical biomass of a person) and these metals may be present in very small amounts but a number of metal elements seem to be essential to sustain life. To a palaeontologist, these metals may be significant as the bonds that they form with organic molecules might be strong enough to permit the preservation of molecular material across deep, geological time. If these metals can be detected, then important new information can be gleaned from the fossil record.

A case in point was the recently published paper that examined how dinosaurs recovered from injuries. Metal traces mapped from a 150-million-year-old Allosaurus toe bone gave scientists a new perspective on the lives of the Dinosauria.

To read an article about this research: Those Very Tough Dinosaurs.

University of Manchester scientists have used a synchrotron particle accelerator to bombard fossil leaves with intense X-rays, the diffusion of which, as they penetrate the fossil material permits the research team to work out the chemical composition and hence to map elements as they existed on a fifty-million-year- old leaf.

Metallome Study

By comparing their finding with the metallome of a modern leaf from a similar species, in this case an Acer, the team can be confident that they are mapping the metals within the leaf and not contaminating their sample with other elements that may have entered the leaf through the fossilisation process. Such is the accuracy of their data, that in one example they have been able to plot the feeding trails left by caterpillars as they fed upon the leaf back in the Palaeogene.

The fossil plant materials are from the famous “Green River Formation” of the western United States. The strata that makes up this formation consists of finely grained mudstones laid down in depositional sequence that represents approximately six million years or so, 53.5 to 48 million years ago (Eocene Lagerstätte). Exquisitely preserved fossils can be found in a number of areas, notably fossil fish and insects with occasionally other vertebrates such as birds. Plant fossils are relatively abundant with the majority of the plant fossil material consisting of individual leaves that were transported by water to the sites of deposition and fossil formation.

A Beautifully Preserved Fossil Fish (Green River Formation)

Exquisitely preserved fossils from the Green River Formation (USA).

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

Employing a Synchrotron

Researchers from Britain’s University of Manchester, the Diamond Light Source (Didcot, Oxon) and the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource in the Unites States, including geochemists and physicists have published their findings in the journal of the Royal Society (Chemistry). Lead author of the scientific paper Dr Nicholas Edwards (postdoctoral researcher – University of Manchester) stated:

“The synchrotron has already shown its potential in teasing new information from fossils, in particular our group’s previous work on pigmentation in fossil animals. With this study, we wanted to use the same techniques to see whether we could extract a similar level of biochemical information from a completely different part of the tree of life. To do this we needed to test the chemistry of the fossil plants to see if the fossil material was derived directly from the living organisms or degraded and replaced by the fossilisation process.”

Fossilised leaves from the Green River Formation excavated from sites in Colorado and Utah were studied. The results from the synchrotron experiments on the fifty million year old fossil material was then compared to extant similar plant species, in this case a type of Acer (Acer pseudoplatanus). The comparison helped the researchers to determine which metals they should be scanning for and where in the fossil leaves they were likely to occur.

Dr Edwards added:

“We know that plant chemistry can be preserved over hundreds of millions of years, this preserved chemistry powers our society today in the form of fossil fuels. However, this is just the ‘combustible’ part; until now no one has completed this type of study of the other biochemical components of fossil plants, such as metals.”

Combining Synchrotron Facilities

By combining the unique capabilities of two synchrotron facilities, the team were able to produce detailed images of where the various elements of the periodic table were located within both living and fossil leaves, as well as being able to show how these elements were combined with other elements.

Distribution of Copper, Zinc and Nickel in Fossil Leaves

Looking at the distribution of metals in fossil leaves.

Picture credit: University of Manchester

The figure above shows optical images with metal elements mapped in an extant species (L. styraciflua), images labelled A-D. Pictures E-H show the same data but this time in a fossil leaf from the Green River Formation. Copper seems to be at its highest concentration at the serrated tips of the leaves (both extinct and extant) – images B and F. Black image areas indicate low concentrations of the element, whilst white areas indicate relatively high concentrations.

Examining the Research Data

The research data shows that the distribution of copper, zinc and nickel in the fossil leaves was almost identical to that in modern leaves. Each element was concentrated in distinct biological structures, such as the veins and the edges of the leaves, and the way these trace elements and sulphur were attached to other elements was very similar to that seen in modern leaves and plant matter in soils.

Co-author of the scientific paper, Professor Roy Wogelius, from Manchester’s School of Earth, Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences, commented:

“This type of chemical mapping and the ability to determine the atomic arrangement of biologically important elements, such as copper and sulphur, can only be accomplished by using a synchrotron particle accelerator.

The synchrotron analysis was so sophisticated that in one remarkable specimen, the research team were able to identify the feeding trails of caterpillars in a fossilised leaf. Elemental maps of the sample clearly showed how the copper in the leaf tissue was recycled by the parasitic insects. The leaf showed the presence of frass tubes similar to those made by the modern species Catastega aceriella. The caterpillars of this moth feed on leaf tissue and generate cocoons, or frass tubes, out of their fecal pellets and silk. High resolution copper maps of the fossil even allowed the research team to see the individual fecal pellets.

Professor Wogelius explained:

“In one beautiful specimen, the leaf has been partially eaten by prehistoric caterpillars, just as modern caterpillars feed and their feeding tubes are preserved on the leaf. The chemistry of these fossil tubes remarkably still matches that of the leaf on which the caterpillars fed.”

The Specimen that show evidence of Caterpillars Feeding

The synchrotron analysis reveals how the copper was recycled.

Picture credit: University of Manchester

The images above (I and J) are an optical image and a false colour image mapping elemental distributions. Inset images in I and J (Cu) are magnified views of the boxed area showing the extremely fine detailed physical and chemical preservation of the larvae frass tubes and leaf venation. Importantly, this research has demonstrated that the chemistry of the fossil leaves is not sourced from the surrounding environment, it represents elements laid down in the living leaves.

Manchester palaeontologist and co-author of the paper, Dr Phil Manning said:

“We think that copper may have aided preservation by acting as a ‘natural’ biocide, slowing down the usual microbial breakdown that would destroy delicate leaf tissues. This property of copper is used today in the same wood preservatives that you paint on your garden fence before winter approaches.”

This work, along with other recent research papers highlights the role of X-ray bombardment via synchrotrons and the new insights that such techniques can provide in terms of data retrieved from the fossil record.

Everything Dinosaur is grateful to the University of Manchester for information used in the compilation of this article.

For replicas of iconic animals from the fossil record: Dinosaur Models and Crafts for Kids.

24 05, 2014

Could Archaeopteryx Fly? That is an Excellent Question!

By Mike|2024-04-12T15:42:36+01:00May 24th, 2014|Categories: Dinosaur and Prehistoric Animal News Stories, Palaeontological articles|2 Comments

Seeing Archaeopteryx in a New Light (Literally)

A joint team from the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (Grenoble, France), the Solnhofen Museum (southern Germany), the Paul Scherrer Institute (Switzerland) and the Palacký University (Czech Republic) have been collaborating on a piece of ground-breaking research in order to assess the flight capabilities of Archaeopteryx. Ever since the first fossil of this ancient, feathered creature were found amongst the finely grained lithographic limestone strata of Solnhofen, scientists have speculated on whether this “dino-bird” could fly.

Archaeopteryx lithographica

Archaeopteryx fossil material is extremely rare, for much of the known history of Archaeopteryx (A. lithographica), its holotype material consisted of the impression of a single feather. In all, thirteen fossils ascribed to Archaeopteryx have now been found (if you include the feather specimen), they represent material that is regarded by many palaeontologists as some of the most important vertebrate fossils discovered to date. Archaeopteryx is viewed as a “transitional fossil” it shows anatomical evidence of both dinosaurs and birds. Here is a dinosaur with feathers or if you prefer, the fossils represent a bird with teeth!

But could it fly?

The Subject of Intense International Study

*Getting into a flap over Archaeopteryx*.

Picture credit: Carl Buell

Few Fossils to Study

With so few fossils of Archaeopteryx to study, answering this fundamental question has proved extremely difficult. Palaeontologists from the Natural History Museum (London), using the “London specimen”, now regarded as the holotype after a ruling in 2011 by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN), have used X-rays to uncover more information, but the matrix surrounding the fossil has meant that the slabs of limestone in the biggest specimens are too large to be rotated in standard CT scanners.

To read more about the work on Archaeopteryx by the Natural History Museum: Let’s Hear it for Archaeopteryx.

Using a Synchrotron

Other techniques would prove too destructive, so most of the research carried out to date has involved a close up analysis of the surface of the fossil. However, the use of intense X-ray beams generated by a synchrotron has enabled this European team to probe the depths of Archaeopteryx revealing details of the feathers and vertebrae not seen before. An X-ray scattering technique employed at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF), has permitted researchers to see images from deep within the rock entombing the 150-million-year-old creature. A beam of intense light called a slice beam is projected at the fossil, this beam slowly travels down the mounted specimen permitting the X-rays that have been emitted to penetrate deep inside the rock.

As the X-rays are diffused by the substrate and fossil their rate of diffusion can be detected by a camera obscura system, a pin hole within a large sheet of lead, which relays this data to detection software that can produce a computer generated three dimensional image.

A Non-destructive Technique

This is a non-destructive technique that permits scientists to see right inside the fossil and pick up details not revealed on the surface. This new method of studying life in the past was tried on two specimens of Archaeopteryx, an almost complete specimen known as the Wellnhoferia grandis specimen and an isolated fragment of wing that had not been too distorted or crushed as a result of the fossilisation process.

The Wellnhoferia Archaeopteryx Specimen Used in the Analysis

*One of the fossils used in this new study.*

Picture credit: Pascal Goetgheluck

Could Archaeopteryx Fly?

The Wellnhoferia Archaeopteryx has had a chequered history. Originally it had been described as a fossil of the small Jurassic theropod Compsognathus, however, a detailed analysis led to it being declared a new genus of bird and the genus Wellnhoferia (W. grandis) was established. Further research led to the specimen being referred back to Archaeopteryx, it represents the largest individual known to science with a wingspan of around fifty centimetres. It is likely to be one of the show piece fossils on display when the Solnhofen museum re-opens today (24th May), after six months of renovation.

One of the Three-Dimensional Images Generated

*In the 3-D image feathers on the wings can clearly be made out.*

Picture credit: European Radiation Synchrotron Facility

This results of this study will permit scientists to see previously hidden anatomical features of Archaeopteryx which may finally resolve the issue as to whether this creature could fly or not. It will also contribute significantly to the current knowledge of avian evolution. It is very likely that other fossil specimens will be analysed using this methodology.

The Research Team Photographed Next to the Wellnhoferia Specimen

Picture credit: Pascal Goetgheluck

Papo of France recently introduced a very colourful model of Archaeopteryx (A. lithographica), it has been heralded as one of the best models of this prehistoric animal ever made.

The Papo Archaeopteryx Prehistoric Animal Model

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

To view the Papo range of prehistoric animal models, including theropod dinosaur replicas: Papo Prehistoric Animal Models and Figures.