Quantcast
Channel: Extinct Animal of the Week
Viewing all 1867 articles
Browse latest View live
↧

Blank Faced Ornithopods

November 16, 2013, 2:47 pm
$
0
0
©Karkemish (via Deviantart)
Today I have decided that we will only have on illustration. There is a reason to such madness. The fragmentary nature of the discovered cranium makes it difficult to illustrate or even describe what the post cranial skeleton looks like. Therefore, any recreation is little more than an approximation based on a generalized Ornithopod body plan. Some studies have gone as far as to determine that Atlascopcosaurus is a nomen dubium (none cited in the Paleobiology Database though this is where the original claim of nomen dubium originates) while others have claimed that the likelihood of a relationship between Atlascopcosaurus and Muttaburrasaurus requires a redefinition of the Iguanodontia including the designation of the family Muttaburrasauridae. Atlascopcosaurus is a much smaller animal than Muttaburrasaurus but the likelihood of a parallel evolution of body shape within the closely related Australian Ornithopods is more than likely what most illustrators and descriptors are basing their images on.
↧
Search

Atlascopcosaurus and Little Fact Pages

November 17, 2013, 2:17 pm
$
0
0
Atlascopcosaurus shows its face rarely if at all in terms of reliable internet sites. This is not much different from the types of things that exist to present on normal Sundays; in a perfect world there would be far more sources for every animal for younger readers. However, today the only quality links, and thankfully they are quality links that happen to exist, come to us from About and the NHM in London. I also took the liberty of clearing out a rather blank image to begin with for coloring purposes.

↧
↧

Australia in Motion

November 18, 2013, 11:56 am
$
0
0
Atlascopcosaurus is not a vividly in motion Australian dinosaur. There are few resources that show Atlascopcosaurus in motion adequately but there is a tribute video, and that is a step in at least a somewhat progressive direction. Beyond that there really is not much in the way of videos. Below is the tribute video that shows Atlascopcosaurus, however briefly it is; it is a video highlighting all Australian dinosaurs afterall.

↧

A Book Star

November 19, 2013, 6:15 pm
$
0
0
Atlascopcosaurus has not made a significant impact, overall, in the peer reviewed scientific publication world. It has, however, appeared in a number of books as passing information and even as a key character. Some of these books may have been mentioned in prior entries given that they have information contained with that discusses other Australian dinosaurs. These include books like Minmi and Other Dinosaurs of Australia as well as World's Smallest Dinosaurs. Rich and Vickers-Rich published the initial naming and describing paper, as previously stated, but they also co-wrote a 1999 paper which was much more about the Hypsilophidontids of Australia as a whole; the abstract can be found through this link. Chapter 18 of Dinosaur Systematics describes the basal Ornithopoda and here too Atlascopcosaurus is touched upon. The Witmer Lab at Ohio University hosts a PDF version of this chapter, making it available online; Dr. Witmer is a co-author of the chapter.
↧

Once A Hypsilophodont

November 20, 2013, 3:42 pm
$
0
0
©Robinson Kunz
Originally diagnosed as a middle of the group Hypsilophodontid, Atlascopcosaurus, has since been reassigned to the honored position of one of the basal-most Ornithopoda. Hypsilophodontidae would still be recognized as the family to which Atlascopcosaurus is assigned had it not been deemed paraphyletic and effectively banished from dinosaurian systematics. Regardless, as a basal member of the Ornithopoda Atlascopcosaurus possesses many characters that define the clade later on. Bipedal herbivores, Ornithipoda like Atlascopcosaurus, possess predentary beaks and occluding grinding teeth in a distinctive cheek region along the maxilla and dentary. They also should, remember that Atlascopcosaurus remains are exceedingly fragmentary postcranially, possess ossified tendons along the caudal vertebrae that stiffen the tail, making structurally very much like a cantilever bridge; it provides stability and support to balance out the center of gravity oriented in the upper thoracic area. The nearly horizontal body position is well exhibited in this illustration, and the feathering or filamentous fibers, are a fairly certain reality as well at this point. Small basal members of Ornithopoda are no longer so bland as they used to be thankfully.
↧
↧

Exciting Times!

November 21, 2013, 10:07 am
$
0
0
There is little to discuss in terms of the popular culture impact of our small basal Ornithopoda friend Atlascopcosaurus this week. As such, we will discuss the world in which this dinosaur lived. Atlascopcosaurus was discovered in Dinosaur Cove's Eastern area in 1984. 104 million years ago the Dinosaur Cove area was closely associated, geographically, with the landmass of Antarctica and well below the Antarctic Circle. Current research indicates that the areas within the southernmost area of the globe near the Antarctic Circle potentially occurred dark and light seasons. More famous denizens of this light and dark season land include Muttaburrasaurus (the taxon in which Atlascopcosaurus is sometimes considered a member due to its fragmentary nature), Leaellynasaura‎, and even a carnivore simply referred to most often as Dwarf Allosaurus. It is unfortunate that more of this little dinosaur has not been recovered (and also that it actually be a nomen dubium that belongs to another species). Regardless, the adaptations to light and dark seasons that could potentially be seen in this taxon would be wonderful. Should more ever be discovered it will tell us a lot about the dinosaur and it will definitively answer the question regarding the position of the dinosaur itself.
↧

So Small I Missed It All This Time

November 22, 2013, 12:17 pm
$
0
0
I've seen this before, but I cannot make out the illustrator's name.
"The compys didn't look dangerous at first sight. They were the size of a hen and walked nervously like a hen. But he (John Hammond) knew that they were venomous. Their bites delivered a slow-acting poison that they used to kill wounded animals."—Jurassic Park (novel)

Granted the above quote is in reference to the novel's Procompsognathus denizens and we are covering their descendant, Compsognathus, it is still a wonderful little quote from the novel about a somewhat understated lineage of dinosaurs. Both Procompsognathus and Compsognathus were small theropod dinosaurs with "elegant jaws" (the meaning of Compsognathus). Compsognathus consists of a single species, C. longipes, though a now synonymous species was once purported to exist as well (C. corallestris). The originally described size was slightly smaller than the full grown adult size of just over a meter or about 3.3ft. The reason for this is that a juvenile specimen was initially described as an adult. Regardless, at approximately a meter long and between 1.8 and 7.7lb (0.83 and 3.5kg) Compsognathus was the smallest non-avian dinosaur known for many years. An obligate biped, Compsognathus was quite gracile and agile, able, more than likely, to chase down many smaller prey items like large insects and small mammals and lizards. Though often depicted (in Jurassic Park related media primarily) as pack hunters, no evidence of this behavior exists that has been documented. Feather coverings, though not depicted often, may have been present on living members of the species, as they are closely related to known feathered dinosaurs such as Sinosauropteryx and Sinocalliopteryx.
↧

Staring Pretty

November 23, 2013, 3:44 pm
$
0
0
©NRG (a good fellow from Argentina)
Compsognathus, as a near relative of some of the earliest known feathered dinosaurs, may or may not have had feathering. These could have been fibrous filaments or it could have been downy tufts or even full fledged feathers, depending upon how long ago feathers actually did begin to develop as more highly evolved and adapted keratinous scales. Regardless, older illustrated versions of Compsognathus or those illustrations at least done in older styles, show scaled individuals. Some show them as highly active predators while others show them as simply stereotypical small dinosaurs walking about in ferns and other prehistoric backgrounds. Rarely do they appear illustrated, feathered or scaled, with any sort of anthropomorphic intelligence. In this scene it almost appears that our little Compsognathus friend is surveying the world and taking a relaxing moment. Most of the physical features of the dinosaur are obscured enough that the neck and tail anatomy are about all we can comment on in terms of the physical build of Compsognathus.

©Nobu Tamura
As far as newer versions of illustrations are concerned, the feather fibers of Compsognathus are a little debatable overall. This version highlights an early version of feather evolution with the appearance of downy fibers all along the body. The snout, feet, and hands are lacking in feathers as they would not require nearly as much insulation as the body of Compsognathus would. Physiologically, blood traveling from the body to the feet, hands, and snout would heat the blood returning to the body from veins in/from the feet. This would keep the body warm in the same way that birds keep their bodies warm while allowing their feet and beaks to remain cold. Insulation in this manner would be the practical physiological purpose of filamentous feathers like these, but additionally these feathers would be pigmented and be able to be used for display purposes.
↧
Search

Coloring and Learning

November 24, 2013, 8:29 am
$
0
0
©Emily Sheldon
There are a variety of sites that offer some knowledge on Compsognathus in literature that is written for a younger audience; which we always love to see. The sites that get used the most are represented quite well today including KidsDinos and Enchanted Learning. I am far more excited about the coloring today. Share the information with those around you, but share the coloring more today, because there is a lot of it!


↧
↧

Compy Puppets!

November 25, 2013, 1:54 pm
$
0
0
I am going to let the videos do the talking today. There is a puppet video as well as the I'm A Dinosaur version for Compsognathus.

 
↧

All the Papers

November 26, 2013, 2:29 pm
$
0
0
©Karola (Caimryo)
Almost "turkey day" here in the US (strange how the colloquialism has become solely about a food that was possibly not even present at the historical Thanksgiving feast), and what better way to celebrate than reading papers about the great (x 15 million, give or take a few generations) grandparents of modern turkeys? I like to think of the following list of reading material as following the bouncing Compsognathus literature, hence the use of the image above. Let us not argue about the exact evolution of turkeys and Compsognathus given the previous statement but instead enjoy the original naming and description of Compsognathus, if one can read German; English translations of this are, as far as I can tell, not available. One could also read aboutthe synonymization of C. corallestris with C. longipes in Peyer's 2006 paper. Gishlick and Gauthier in 2007 examined the hand morphology of Compsognathus and restructured our vision of the digit count ad use of the digits in Compsognathus. For those interested in taphonomy, I found a paper by Reisdorf and Wuttke that uses decay in modern domestic chickens (referred to as"Gallus gallusL.", which is a hybridized Sri Lanka Junglefowl) to describe taphonomy in Compsognathus as well as Juravenator. There is plenty to read here today.

↧

Grasping Hands For Grabbing You Up

November 27, 2013, 11:41 am
$
0
0
©Shelley Kornatz (Eykoart)
There are a lot of things that have not yet been discussed in terms of Compsognathus, though the papers yesterday and the discussions about feathers have given us quite a lot to talk about already. Regardless, one thing that has not been mentioned and cannot be ignored is the hand anatomy of a dinosaur like Compsognathus. Early German specimens appeared to possess only two digits, while later French specimens have three digits clearly seen. The third digit, Digit I, was short and incompletely preserved in the German specimens, but the implications of the digit arrangement is that the hand appears to possess the ability to grasp prey. Grasping hands certainly appear in the Maniraptoriformes and in the earliest relatives of birds. The grasping ability of the forebears of the Maniraptoriformes are sometimes used to differentiate theropods as well. Regardless of how the character is used, it is fairly evident in Compsognathus and a lot about the diet can therefore be conjectured at including the ability of the dinosaur to grasp and eat its prey rather than having to relay on jaw muscles and teeth alone.
↧

Turkey Day Tribute

November 28, 2013, 8:17 am
$
0
0
Compsognathus is a good little dinosaur. It has been an interesting dinosaur to discuss and research. I wish to keep things short today as I have a lot of Thanksgiving related things to do and so too does the American audience. However, Compsognathus is so popular in popular culture that I feel it is of great importance that I need to share the above Spore creature, a plush dinosaur from a friendly Finnish artist , and this wonderful image of what a turkey wing could look like if it came off of Compsognathus or another theropod:

↧
↧

Big Nostril Lizard Foot

November 29, 2013, 11:18 am
$
0
0
Picture by Nils Knötschke
Latin and Greek roots make for some rather fun to say dinosaur names and hierarchical categories. The macronarian sauropods of the Late Jurassic and Cretaceous were one such group of funny named animals; macronarian sauropod effectively translates to "Big nostril lizard foot". One member of the group, at the basal end of the family tree, was Europasaurus holgeri (meaning European lizard of Holger Lüdtke, who discovered the first fossil remains). This macronarian taxa is slightly more derived than the North American Camarasaurus but less so than Brachiosaurus and is therefore considered the sister to Brachiosauridae. The chief character marking Europasaurus as more derived than Camarasaurus is the resultant size of the body due to insular dwarfisim. That is correct ladies and gentlemen, we have here a "tiny" sauropod dinosaur. Weighing in at somewhere between 1,000 and 2,000 pounds and ranging between 5.6 and 20.3 feet (1.7 and 6.2 meters) 11 individuals are known from the initial quarry at Langeberg near Goslar, Lower Saxony (that is in central Germany for the geographically stumped). The idea that central Germany was once comprised of many small islands with dwarf sauropods inhabiting those islands is pretty funny, unique, and very interesting.

↧

Looking at Europa

November 30, 2013, 10:05 am
$
0
0
©Paulo Marcio
This image has been featured before here. It was featured back in March of 2012 in a discussion about Germanodactylus. This week, of course, we are highlighting the other animal (not the fish or lizard) that are seen here. We can tell, assuming that the Germanodactylus is not enormous, that the sauropods they nearly rival in size are rather small. Europasaurus was a small sauropod resulting from insular dwarfism, the same phenomenon that created the likes of the Sicilian Dwarf Elephant and Balaur bondoc the Romanian Maniraptorid discovered only a few years ago. The small size of these animals results from generations of adaptation that lead to a large dinosaur that was large enough to still be a large dinosaur but small enough to not eat all of the limited vegetation on the small islands. Dinosaurs this small in proportional situations are almost funny looking, but it is important to see them in a relative size to other animals when it is claimed that they are miniatures of their relatives.

©Andrey Atuchin
Other illustrations, however, barely show the relative size of insular dwarf species. If we assume, regardless, that the small pterosaurs to the right and in the background are the same or similar in size to the Germanodactylus shown in the previous illustration then this must be an adult where the previous illustration was showing juveniles. Even at an adult size this is a rather small dinosaur, especially for a sauropod. The close relationship with Brachiosauridae is fairly evident in this interpretation as well especially in the posture of the animal, its neck, and the makeup of the skull of the little sauropod.
↧
Search

German Resources

December 1, 2013, 9:09 am
$
0
0
We have good English resources today from the London NHM as well as National Geographic making Europasaurus an international star for children. The home state, Germany of course, also gets in on the Europasaurus fun in the Dinosaur Park of Rehburg-Loccum in the Neinburg district of central Germany. The park hosted an art contest for Europasaurus not too long ago. One of the results of this was some art that can be used as a coloring page:


↧

Europasaurus Time Lapse

December 2, 2013, 7:53 am
$
0
0
I found two videos that are time lapsed and pretty interesting. The first is of a painting of Europasaurus which is fantastic.
The second video is a time lapse of the preparations of a Europasaurus fossil.

↧
↧

Reading A Lot About A Little

December 3, 2013, 12:12 pm
$
0
0
©Nobu Tamura
Europasaurus, for all of its small stature, is a fairly widely read dinosaur; meaning that people write about it quite often and it is therefore read about globally, not that the dinosaur itself read a lot of literature. An article in Systematic Paleontology discusses the postcranial axial skeleton of Europasaurus in a fair amount of detail, if you can get a copy of it for yourself. Old news articles are usually a welcome source of information as well. This Geotimes article discusses the "newly discovered"Europasaurus and gives the small dinosaur a short but emphatic introduction to the world via a non-peer reviewed entry into the literature of the world without being too sensationalist; as the media has a tendency to do with dinosaur news. I typically dislike posting a search result, it happens from time to time, but there are a few pdf's in the search for Europasaurus that cannot be linked as they open directly from the search. I recommend Sander et al.'s supplementary information (Geology and taphonomy of the Langenberg quarry locality) and at least inspecting the abstract of Bolecsek and Wings here (Europasaurus holgeri–the dwarfed dinosaur from the Late Jurassic of Germany).
↧

Shrink Wrapped

December 4, 2013, 2:35 pm
$
0
0
©Gerhard Boeggemann (His site is not working lately, so it is not linked)
Hypotheses from Sander et al. (shared Tuesday) state that something like Europasaurus would have become "rapidly dwarfed" after its habitat began to shrink rapidly around it. There is the idea that Europasaurus and other island dwelling dinosaurs immigrated or were washed ashore upon islands after tidal waves or some other sort of calamity. This could have happened and a rapid, occurring in only a very few generations, evolution could have forced animals like Europasaurus to begin to "shrink" rather quickly. Shrink is the wrong word really; selection favoring smaller members of the species is a more appropriate phrasing. Should this "shrinking" selection have occurred over a much longer timeline, however, the results would have been similar if not identical. A longer timeline could be the result of changing habitat limits; rising water levels or increased erosion lowering landmasses, shifting of landmasses, earthquakes, etc. Any number of interactions possibly created the islands on which Europasaurus lived. Paleogeographic and paleoecological studies have begun to explain how these islands came about and more and more miniaturized species are being discovered as time progresses; Balaur, Magyarosaurus, Telmatosaurus, and Europasaurus are only a handful of dwarfed species. The dwarfism of Europasaurus is exceptional though in that Macronarians were some of the largest animals to ever walk the Earth and a dwarfed species of such large animals are quite intriguing.
↧

Popularity Island

December 5, 2013, 3:08 pm
$
0
0
©Cheung Chung Tat
We saw the painting above illustrated in a time lapse video on Monday. We have also seen a lot of news articles about Europasaurus including this short National Geographic blurb about Europasaurus  and bone growth. There are not a lot of video game references or anything else of that nature. There is some pretty fantastic sculpture out there. Notably Hirokazu Tokugawa's piece of art is very remarkable. The face is highly detailed and really quite strange looking; it is very unique in its expression and almost alien.
↧
Viewing all 1867 articles
Browse latest View live
Search