Megaraptor: Prehistoric Beast of the Week

Lets check out the impressive, yet mysterious predatory dinosaur, Megaraptor namunhuaiquii!  This dinosaur lived in what is now Argentina during the Cretaceous Period, roughly 90 million years ago.  Even though only parts of its skeleton have been found, Megaraptor is estimated to have been a little under thirty feet long from snout to tail. 

My Megaraptor namunhuaiquii life reconstruction.  If it was an allosauroid, it may have had feathers like I have shown.  On the other hand if it was, indeed, a tyrannosauroid, it almost certainly had feathers like I have shown.  So feathers was the safer choice with this one.

Megaraptor started out only being known from very scant remains, and has gradually become closer to being more completely known over the years since its discovery.  Initially only one of its gigantic sickle-shaped claws was discovered.  Upon seeing this, most scientists assumed it was the second toe claw of a dromaeosaur, much like Velociraptor or Deinonychus, just a heck of a lot bigger.  In fact, it would have been the biggest dromaeosaur known if that was the case, so it was named Megaraptor which translates to "Giant Thief/Hunter".  The claw, itself, was just under a foot long!

Years later a few more bits and pieces were found from this dinosaur including some of the arm and hand.  In addition, a dinosaur, named Australovenator, was discovered, which bore striking similarities to the known parts of Megaraptor.  Because of this, it was determined that the monster claw did not belong on the foot but on the first digit of the hand which is what Australovenator had.  Megaraptor wasn't a dromaeosaur at all. Instead, it may have been from the same group of theropods that includes Allosaurus. Even amongst other large theropods, many of which had enlarged first claws on their hands, like Baryonyx (name actually translates to "heavy claw"), the claw of Megaraptor was proportionally the largest. 

One of Megaraptor's hand claws.  If it were to give you a wedgie, you'd die.

But there's more!  In 2014 even more material from Megaraptor was discovered.  A juvenile specimen preserved even more bones, including part of the skull.  We now know that at least as juveniles, Megaraptor would have had very long, low snouts, with proportionally small teeth.  The teeth themselves curved towards the back of the mouth.  It is because of the teeth that some paleontologists propose Megaraptor wasn't an allosauroid either, but rather a kind of tyrannosauroid, similar to Eotyrannus or Dryptosaurus. (which also possessed huge hand claws)

Section of the upper jaw of a juvenile Megaraptor.  Image from Porfiri et al. 2014.

So which is it?  What was Megaraptor!?  The definite answer to that is...we don't know.  We have some choices!  But we don't know anything for sure for now.  And that's okay!  This happens a lot in paleontology.  In some ways it is the unsolved mysteries and multiple possible truths and different ideas put forth by different individuals that make this field so much fun. 

That's all for this week!  As always feel free to comment below or on the facebook page! 

References

Benson, R.B.J., Carrano, M.T., Brusatte, S.L., 2010. A new clade of archaic large-bodied predatory dinosaurs (Theropoda: Allosauroidea) that survived to the latest Mesozoic. Naturwissenschaften 97, 71-78.

Calvo, J. O.; Porfiri, J.D.; Veralli, C.; Novas, F.E.; Poblete, F. (2004). "Phylogenetic status of Megaraptor namunhuaiquii Novas based on a new specimen from Neuquén, Patagonia, Argentina". Ameghiniana 41: 565–575.

Novas, F.E. (1998). "Megaraptor namunhuaiquii, gen. et sp. nov., a large-clawed, Late Cretaceous theropod from Patagonia". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 18: 4–9.

Porfiri, J. D., Novas, F. E., Calvo, J. O., Agnolín, F. L., Ezcurra, M. D. & Cerda, I. A. 2014. Juvenile specimen of Megaraptor (Dinosauria, Theropoda) sheds light about tyrannosauroid radiation. Cretaceous Research 51: 35-55.

Machairoceratops: Beast of the Week

This week we will be looking at another recently discovered horned dinosaur.  Enter Machairoceratops cronusi!

Machairoceratops was a ceratopsian dinosaur, which means it was in the same group as the more famous, Triceratops.  Within this group, however, it was more closely related to Diabloceratops and Nasutoceratops.  Machairocearatops' name translates to "Bent Knife Horned Face".  This is in reference to the shape of the two horns that grew from the top of the dinosaur's frill.  The species name, "cronusi" is after the mythical Greek god, Cronus, who cut off his dad's testicles with a curved sword.  (Next time you think your family has drama, remember that.)  In life, Machairoceratops would have been a plant-eater.  It lived in what is now Utah, USA, during the Cretaceous period, about 77 million years ago.  From beak to tail it would have measured about twenty feet long based on the skull. (Only the skull was found.)

Two rival Machairoceratops use their horns to lock into one another as they engage in a shoving match.

Like its relatives, Machairoceratops had a beak, a frill behind its head, and horns...very unique horns.  I know I say "unique" a lot in reference to ceratopsians, but it holds true!  Especially when it comes to this genus.  The two horns on the top of the frill curve forward and downward.  Frill horns aren't unheard of ceratopsians...but this exact orientation and curvature combined with their length, is.  It also had one horn over each eye which curved slightly upwards.  Due to the fragmentary remains of the skull, we sadly don't know what kind of horn ornamentation Machairoceratops had over its snout, if any at all.

Known fossil material from Machairoceratop's skull.  Image is from the paper by Eric K. Lund, Patrick M. O’Connor, Mark A. Loewen, Zubair A. Jinnah, referenced below.

As is the case with all ceratopsians, we don't know exactly why Machairoceratops' horns and frill evolved the way they did.  But it is very likely it had something to do with interacting with other members of its species.  If ceratopsian horns and frills were purely for defense against predators, they would likely be more uniform from species to species.  But this isn't the case.  Typically, when a variety of different, but related animals have the same sort of trait that is unique in form to each species, it has to do with some sort of intraspecies communication, like sexual display.  Just look at modern songbirds and their variety of colors and calls, or ungulates and their horns/antlers as modern comparisons. When it came to Machairoceratops, I felt that the overall shape that the brow and frill horns made together looked like it might serve well for combating rivals in head-to-head pushing behavior.  The antlers of modern reindeer also form this forward-facing crescent form, and they use them similarly.  Can I prove this was exactly how Machairoceratops used its horns?  Of course not.  But it's possible and also fun to think about.

That is all for this week!  As always please feel free to comment below or on our facebook page!

References

Eric K. Lund, Patrick M. O’Connor, Mark A. Loewen and Zubair A. Jinnah (2016). "A New Centrosaurine Ceratopsid, Machairoceratops cronusi gen et sp. nov., from the Upper Sand Member of the Wahweap Formation (Middle Campanian), Southern Utah". PLoS ONE. 11 (5): e0154403.

 

Palaeosaniwa: Beast of the Week

This week we shall be checking out a prehistoric reptile whose lineage continues to this day.  Enter Palaeosaniwa canadensis.

Palaeosaniwa was a lizard that lived in what is now North America, including Alberta, Canada, and Wyoming and Montana, USA, during the Late Cretaceous Period, from 75 all the way to 66 million years ago.  Within this time there may have been multiple species within the genus, but canadensis is the most well known.  Palaeosaniwa was a relatively large lizard, capable of growing to over eleven feet long from snout to tail, judging by the remains of it that have been found.  The genus name translates to "Ancient Saniwa".  Saniwa being another, slightly younger by a few million years, but still very much prehistoric, kind of lizard.  When alive, this Palaeosaniwa would have been a meat-eater.

Palaeosaniwa getting chased by an angry Anatotitan.

Palaeosaniwa was a kind of veranoid lizard, in the same family that includes living monitors, like the Komodo Dragon, as well as the extinct marine lizards, the mosasaurs.  Like the modern Komodo Dragon, Palaeosawina had long, curved, serrated teeth which were probably adept at grabbing and tearing mouthfuls of meat off carcasses.  It likely had other adaptations in common with its modern relative, but unfortunately venomous saliva and forked tongues have never fossilized.

Me comforting my modern varanoid friend, Bruno, the Black-Throat Monitor (Varanus albigularis ionidesi)  He would have been way too emotionally sensitive to survive the Cretaceous.

There is something to be respected about a lizard that lived for such a long span of time amongst dinosaurs.  Despite the fact that an eleven-foot lizard is nothing to scoff at, it still coexisted with some of the largest and potentially dangerous dinosaurs of all time.  Veranoids historically tend to be very adaptable.  Their strong arms and legs, each ending in five curved claws are great for climbing, digging, and running.  Their long muscular tails are an effective weapon against enemies and also allow them to be strong swimmers.  This combination of adaptations would have made this lizard a jack-of all trades, opportunistic meat-eater, a very good place to be in the long run.  Because Palaeosawina was a mid-to-small scale meat-eater, pretty much every other creature in its community probably had some sort of beef with it.  Large plant-eaters like ceratopsians and hadrosaurs likely would have seen it as a threat to their eggs and babies and may have tried to chase or even kill it if spotted, while large predators like tyrannosaurids would have likely hunted it for food in addition killing it to protect young.  Despite this, this lizard still managed to carve a prominent niche that remains intact to this day thanks to its modern kin.  Palaeosawina would have had to be an extremely tough lizard!

That's all for this week.  As always feel free to comment below or on the facebook page.

References

Archibald, J. David (2011). Extinction and Radiation: How the Fall of Dinosaurs Led to the Rise of Mammals. JHU Press. p. 43.

Michael Joseph Balsai, The phylogenetic position of Palaeosaniwa and the early evolution of the Platynotan (Varanoid) anguimorphs (January 1, 2001). Univ. of Pennsylvania - Electronic Dissertations. Paper AAI3031637.

Visiting the New Jersey State Museum: Dryptosaurus gets a Mount (FINALLY)

Scroll up.  See the dinosaurs I painted for this site's banner up there?  They are Dryptosaurus and Hadrosaurus, the first two dinosaur skeletons ever recognized by modern science in the United States.  Just as important to me is the fact that they were both unearthed in New Jersey, my home state.  That being said they are both dear to my heart.  In fact, Dryptosaurus I would go so far to say is my all time favorite carnivorous dinosaur.  Sadly, despite their historical and scientific importance, both of these dinosaurs are grossly underrepresented in many aspects of paleontology culture, especially Dryptosaurus for reasons that are still a mystery to me.  Seriously, any appearance this dinosaur ever makes is a rare treat. Toy companies that make dinosaur figures especially frustrate me.  Are you reading this, Safari?  How about you, CollectA?  Seriously, give Dryptosaurus (and Hadrosaurus too while we're at it) a freaking figure already!  You can only redo Tyrannosaurus so many times!

Basically me if a Dryptosaurus toy is ever actually mass produced.

Perhaps even sadder was the fact that despite being such an important fossil discovery, Dryptosaurus never actually got a skeleton of it erected anywhere.  If anything you would only ever see its bones laid out on a flat surface someplace.  And yes, I hear some of you smug, self-proclaimed experts back there. "Dryptosaurus is too fragmentary to get a skeletal mount!" Nope.  Sorry that won't work with me.  Dinosaurs from WAY more scant remains have gotten full skeletal mounts before.

Argentinosaurus huinculensis reconstruction at Museo Municipal Carmen Funes, Plaza Huincul, Neuquén, Argentina.

It seemed that Dryptosaurus would never get a skeletal mount for people to really see and appreciate the true majesty of this amazing beast...until now!  The New Jersey State Museum in Trenton, NJ, is the first facility in history to have not just one, but TWO Dryptosaurus skeletal mounts on display in their new, as of July 2016, natural history hall!  I was able to make a trip over there recently to check them out in person.  They are nothing short of spectacular.

OMG THEY'RE SO COOL!

Now that we have seen them and are done scooping the mush back into our open skulls from having our minds utterly blown from sheer awesomeness, lets check these guys out a little more closely.  The first thing you will notice is the especially dynamic pose.  That wasn't chosen for this exhibit purely based on the fact that it looks cool.  There is history there.  Dryptosaurus was one of the dinosaurs painted by famed illustrator Charles Knight back in 1896. (Charles Knight is widely accepted as pretty much the most influential paleoartist of all time.) He depicted two Dryptosaurus fighting in this exact pose and named it "Leaping Laelaps". (Laelaps was the original name of Dryptosaurus)  This was a big deal back then since every other illustration of a dinosaur ever portrayed during that time and even for decades after were as sluggish tail-dragging cold-blooded lizard creatures.  This was extremely progressive and even seen as downright unlikely at that time.  The painting, itself, looks like it was done in the 1990s if one didn't know the context.

Charles Knight's "Leaping Laelaps" painting.  They may not look special by today's standards but at the time this sort of depiction was unheard of and still didn't catch on until almost one hundred years later.

Remember when I mentioned that Dryptosaurus was only known from fragmentary remains?  This means that the folks at the NJ State Museum had to be especially thoughtful when reconstructing the rest of the skeletons since some of the bones had to be made based on guesswork.  This is especially tricky when the skeleton in question is missing a head.  In the case of Dryptosaurus we have some of the skull including part of the jaws and some other bits...but not enough to get a definite picture.  I got into contact with some people I know from the museum, including volunteer, Wayne Callahan, assistant curator, Jason Schein, and Curator David Parris, to get some more details on these skeletons.  What I found out was that elements from a few other related, but more completely known, kinds of dinosaurs were used as references to fill in missing gaps.  Most notably was Appalachiosaurus.  Appalachiosaurus was another kind of tyrannosauroid that lived on the east coast of North America, and was probably the closest relative to Dryptosaurus that we know of.  Elements from the much older, basal tyrannosauroid, Dilong, and the two-fingered tyrannosaurid, Gorgosaurus, are also used.

The last thing you'd see...

In addition to the Dryptosaurus skeletons, the New Jersey State museum has plenty of other awesome additions to its natural history hall.  There is now a fossil lab right there in the public viewing area where you can see volunteers and scientists prepping real fossils behind glass.  It was there that I met Hank, another volunteer, as he was using an air scribe to chip the excess rock off of a prehistoric crocodile skull that was discovered in southern New Jersey.

Tip of the crocodile's snout

Closeup of one of the crocodile's teeth with Hank's hand for scale.

Finally I saw an old familiar face...er...skull in the form of the New Jersey Elk Moose!  If you have been following me since 2012 you might remember this fellow from a guest article my friend, Amanda, provided when she was studying prehistoric deer.  This very specimen was the one she had to get teeth measurements from.

The NJ Elk Moose on display in the new Natural History Hall at the NJ State Museum.

There is much more to explore at the New Jersey State Museum.  If you get the chance definitely stop by and pay it a visit.  The Dryptosaurus skeletons alone are worth it!

Cladoselache: Prehistoric Beast of the Week

Get your diving gear ready...and time machines too I guess.  We are about to check out another awesome prehistoric shark!  Say hello to Cladoselache!  Cladoselache was a genus of shark that included several species, but the most well understood is called Cladoselache fyleri.  It lived during the late Devonian period, about 375 million years ago.  (much older than the first dinosaurs) It swam in oceans that once covered what is now North America, the best preserved specimens of this ancient fish being from Ohio.  Cladoselache could grow to be about six feet long from snout to tail and would have eaten meat (like all sharks) in life.  The genus name translates to "Branch Tooth Shark" due to the fact that could have multiple teeth per root.

Life reconstruction of Cladoselache fyleri, by Christopher DiPiazza

Cladoselache was a very interesting animal due to the fact that, despite being so old, it had some characteristics about it that are still very prominent in sharks today.  At the same time it also had some features that are completely alien by living shark standards.  The mouth of this shark was at the very front of the snout, called a terminal mouth.  This is in contrast to the kinds of mouths that you see in many modern sharks, like great whites for instance, that have that long nose jutting out before their actual mouths. (which is called subterminal)  However, some sharks today also exhibit the terminal mouth, like the weirdly wonderful Frilled Shark, for instance.  Inside the mouth Cladoselache had many long pointed teeth, that could branch out from a single root.  The teeth weren't serrated, suggesting it didn't tear apart its prey, but rather would have hooked it and sucked it completely into its jaws whole.  In fact, some very well-preserved specimens of Cladoselache even show whole fish skeletons in the stomach cavity.  Thanks to these we even can tell that Cladoselache grabbed and swallowed its prey tail-first!  Cladoselache fyleri also had seven gill slits on each side of its head, which is more than most sharks today, but also not unheard of by modern shark standards either.

Cladoselache tooth.  Note the multiple points.

One feature about Cladoselache that you won't find in any modern sharks is the fact that it was almost devoid of any toothy scales, called denticles, that sharks are so well known for being covered in.  In fact, this shark was almost completely naked, scale-wise, except for a few regions around the face and on its fins.  Paleontologists still have no clue why this was.  It also had short spines in front of its two dorsal (back) fins which may have helped it cut the water as it swam.

Cladoselache fyleri fossil on display at the American Museum of Natural History in New York.

Thanks to beautifully preserves specimens of Cladoselache, we even know what the outline of its body looked like.  This is rare since shark skeletons are almost completely composed of soft cartilage, not bone, and therefore rarely fossilize.  Most other kinds of prehistoric sharks are only known from teeth.  Not the case with Cladoselache, though.  It had a long, streamlined body and its tail was an almost perfectly symmetrical crescent shape with pronounced keels on the sides for tail muscles.  When you compare this to the tails of sharks and other fish today, you will see that symmetrical shape is present in extremely fast-swimming creatures like Mako Sharks and Tuna.  It is likely Cladoselache was fast, too, using its speed to grab prey and also escape predators, like the twenty-foot long, armored fish, Dunkleosteus.

That is all for this week!  As always please comment below on the facebook page!

References

"Ancient Sharks." Ancient Sharks. Reequest Center for Shark Research N.p., n.d. Web. 04 July 2016. 

A. S. Woodward & E. J. White, The dermal tubercles of the Upper Devonian shark Cladosclache. - Annals and Magazine of Natural History 11: 367–368. - 1938.

B. Dean, Contributions to the morphology of Cladoselache (Cladodus). Journal of Morphology 9:87–114. - 1894.

Paraceratherium: Beast of the Week

This week let's take a look at the largest land mammal of all time. (That we know of.)  Make way for Paraceratherium transouralicum!  Paraceratherium was a plant-eating mammal that lived all over what is now Eurasia during the late Paleogene Period, between 34 and 23 million years ago.  It was gigantic, towering over all other land mammals, including elephants, at up to sixteen feet tall at the shoulder (not including the long neck and head), and almost twenty five feet long. (Keep in mind this animal did NOT have a long tail.  A 25-foot long dinosaur isn't as large because of the long tail in the back takes up a lot of that length.)

Paraceratherium life reconstruction by Christopher DiPiazza

Paraceratherium has changed its name since its discovery a few times.  This is because specimens of it have all been pretty fragmentary, and therefore given names when initially discovered until it was realized they were all from the same kind of beast.  It may be more recognizable by the name, Indricotherium, which has since been lumped with Paraceratherium.  This was what it was called when it was featured on the BBC miniseries, Walking with Prehistoric Beasts. (Sequel to Walking with Dinosaurs)  Within the genus, Paraceratherium, there have been a few species named, but P. transauralicum is the most well-studied.

Paraceratherium skull on display at the American Museum of Natural History in New York

So what kind of mammal was Paraceratherium exactly?  It doesn't quite resemble any of the other large land mammals we know today.  The answer can be found when you look at its skeleton more closely.  Even though all specimens of it are mostly fragmentary, we do have good skull material.  If you look at the teeth of this animal, you will see large molars for grinding in the back, and pointed incisors in the front on both the upper and lower jaws.  This gives it away as  belonging to the order, perrisodactyla, which includes modern horses, tapirs, and rhinos.  So think of Paraceratherium as a really huge, hornless rhino.  The shape of the nasal cavity also tells us, by comparing it to skulls of its living relatives, that it likely had flexible, strong lips, or perhaps even a short trunk, like tapirs do.  Reconstructions of this animal's face seem to vary since horses, rhinos, and tapirs all have varying versions of a similar adaptation in this area.

It is likely, judging by the wear found on its teeth, that Paraceratherium was a browser, eating leaves from the tops of trees in life.  Since leaves have very little actual nutritional value as a food, animals, like Paraceratherium, need to eat large quantities in order to sustain themselves.  They also have large guts for fermenting tough-to-digest plant material, and and long digestive tracts to get as much nutrition out of the food as possible before its finally pooped out.  Because of this leafy diet (as oppose to grass which can just be sucked up with a wide mouth)

Perrisodactylids are known for their flexible lips. However, among them there is a wide variety of lips. Rhinos can have wide, or pointed lips.  Horses have rounded lips, and tapirs have short trunks.  This is all dependent on their feeding style.  My reconstruction of Paraceratherium has something between a White Rhino's wide lip and a tapir's short trunk.  This would allow Paraceratherium to select as many edible leaves as possible with less effort, something very important for large animals that rely on low-nutrition foods like leaves.  (It may have had something different. That's just my hypothesis.)

It was recently suggested that because of it's immense size, Paraceratherium would have needed an efficient way to have regulated its body temperature, especially when it came to cooling off.  Some scientists have suggested that Paraceratherium had large ears, like an elephant, where blood could be closer to the cooler outside temperatures before flowing back into the rest of the body, ultimately preventing the animal from overheating.  Many mammals from desert environments today have large ears for this reason.

The Fennec Fox, which lives in the Sahara, has extremely large ears for heat dissipation.  Larger animals like elephants use this same adaptation, and Paraceratherium may have as well.

 That is all for this week!   As always feel free to comment below or on our facebook page!

References

 Antoine, P. O.; Karadenizli, L.; Saraç, G. E.; Sen, S. (2008). "A giant rhinocerotoid (Mammalia, Perissodactyla) from the Late Oligocene of north-central Anatolia (Turkey)". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 152 (3): 581–592. 

Martin, C.; Bentaleb, I.; Antoine, P. -O. (2011). "Pakistan mammal tooth stable isotopes show paleoclimatic and paleoenvironmental changes since the early Oligocene". Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 311: 19–29.

Prothero, 2013. Rhinoceros Giants: "The Paleobiology of Indrichotheres". pp. 87–106

Wang, Y.; Deng, T. (2005). "A 25 m.y. Isotopic record of paleodiet and environmental change from fossil mammals and paleosols from the NE margin of the Tibetan Plateau". Earth and Planetary Science Letters 236: 322–338.

Aquilonifer: Beast of the Week

This week we will be looking at a tiny creature that gives us insight to how some of the earliest mothers raised their young.  Check out Aquilonifer spinosus!  Aquilonifer was a small arthropod (same group of animals that includes insects, arachnids, and crustaceans) that lived in what is now Hertfordshire, England, during the Silurian Period, about 430 million years ago.  It measured only about a centimeter long as an adult and would have scuttled around on the ocean floor. We are unsure as to what it ate but it may have been a scavenger, sifting through the sand, and eating any tiny morsel of organic material it could find.  Judging by its mouthparts it may also have been a predator, subduing and eating smaller animals it came across.  The genus name, Aquilonifer, translates to "Kite Carrier" and the species, name spinosus, translates to "spiny".  It was also referred to as "The Kite Runner" by paleontologists who found and studied it for the fashion in which it cared for its young.

Life reconstruction by Christopher DiPiazza

This little creature was found with ten even tinier arthropod organisms attached to its body via fine threads.  At first it was hypothesized they may have been some sort of parasite, but that doesn't make much sense since all known parasites would need to be much closer to their hosts in order to survive, not floating behind it on a string.  It was then determined, upon looking at them more closely, that they were most likely offspring.  This creature would have dragged its kids around like little parasailers underwater!  Even though no animal known today does anything quite like this, many arthropods do carry their young around with them via other means.  Many spiders carry their eggs and young in a silk pouch attached to the abdomen, and mother scorpions pile their liveborn offspring onto their backs.  Considering how old and distantly related Aquilonifer is to these modern creatures, to say this was indeed a method of parenting isn't really unreasonable.  Parasites, on the other hand, tend to be pretty consistent across the board in wanting to be on or inside their hosts.

Basically this, but with less character-building experience.

Aquilonifer was also interesting in that beyond being an arthropod...scientists can't quite figure out exactly where it belongs on the family tree.  It may have been an extremely early branch of the arthropod phylum, that would eventually radiate into the forms that you see today.  When alive it may have crawled around on the ocean floor similar to a centipede does on land with its 26 legs.  It had a long pair of feelers in the front, what appear to be mandibles in the front, and ...get this....no eyes.  This isn't that crazy if you think about it.  This creature probably relied mostly on feeling in an environment where having a sense of sight wouldn't have benefited it.

High power 3D scanning of the tiny fossil allowed scientists to get a more detailed view of its anatomy.

That's it for this week!  As always feel free to comment below or on our facebook page!

References

Siveter, David J, Siveter, Derek J, Sutton, MD and Legg, D, 2016, Tiny individuals attached to a new Silurian arthropod suggest a unique mode of brood care, PNAS Online 

 Jonathan Webb, BBC News, 4 April 2016, Bizarre fossil hauled its offspring around 'like kites'