Happy Birthday to Mary Anning!

Today is the 215th birthday of Mary Anning!  In case you didn't know, Mary Anning was one of the most important early fossil hunters in history.  Starting when she was just a child, she was responsible for the discovery of several important species.  She lived in Southern England and used to do all her hunting along the Jurassic fossil beds known as the Lyme Regis formation.

Mary Anning discovered well known species like the pterosaur, Dimorphodon, and the first known plesiosaur and ichthyosaurs to science!

Ichthyosaurus, a famous prehistoric reptile discovered by Mary Anning back in the 1800s.

Stenopterygius: Prehistoric Animal of the Week

Happy Mother's Day to all you moms out there!  This week, in honor of mothers everywhere, we will be looking at a prehistoric reptile who's motherhood was preserved in fossilized form forever. (aw)  Check out Stenopterygius! 

Stenopterygius was a marine reptile belonging to the same order as Ichthyosaurus.  It measured about ten feet long from snout to tail and would have lived in oceans covering what is now Europe during the Early Jurassic period, about 180 million years ago.  The genus name, Stenopterygius, translates to "Narrow Wing". (or in this case, flipper)  There have been several species assigned to this genus. 

Stenopterygius quadriscissus life reconstruction by Christopher DiPiazza.

Like all ichthyosaurs, Stenopterygius was a reptile, but had evolved a body shape very similar to that of a fish for a marine lifestyle.  Instead of feet and claws, it had flippers, dorsal fin, and tail fluke.  Its eyes were large and it sported a narrow, almost beak-like mouth filled with many sharp teeth for snagging prey.  Stenopterygius and Ichthyosaurus were actually very similar in appearance but can be told apart by Stenopterygius' proportionally smaller head and shorter snout.

Fossilized skeleton of a mother Stenopterygius with young.

Stenopterygius would have spent it's entire life at sea but would have still needed to come to the water's surface to breathe.  Unlike modern sea turtles, which still need to come to shore to lay eggs on land, ichthyosaurs like Stenopterygius actually gave birth to live young in the water.  We know this because of beautifully preserved Stenopterygius fossils consisting of mothers with the skeletons of unborn babies still inside their body cavities.  We even know that the babies would have been born tail-first!  

That's it for this week!  Join me next time for another awesome prehistoric creature!  As always feel free to comment below or on our facebook page.  Is everyone excited for that new Godzilla movie coming out?  I sure am...  (hint-hint!)

References

Böttcher R. 1990. Neue Erkenntnisse über die Fortpflanzungsbiologie der Ichthyosaurier. Stuttgarter Beiträge zur Naturkunde Serie B (Geologie und Paläontologie) 164: 1-51

Maxwell, E. E.; Fernández, M. S.; Schoch, R. R. (2012). "First Diagnostic Marine Reptile Remains from the Aalenian (Middle Jurassic): A New Ichthyosaur from Southwestern Germany". In Farke, Andrew A. PLoS ONE 7 (8): e41692. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0041692.

Michael W. Maisch and Andreas T. Matzke (2000). "The Ichthyosauria". Stuttgarter Beiträge zur Naturkunde: Serie B 298: 1–159.

Velafrons: Prehistoric Animal of the Week

Happy Cinco de Mayo everyone!  Today, like last year, we will be looking at a dinosaur that used to call Mexico home.  Check out Velafrons coahuilensis!  The name sounds just sexy.  Say it out loud with me.  VELAFRONSSSSS.  yeah...

Velafrons was a hadrosaurid (duck-billed) dinosaur that was alive during the late Cretaceous period, 72 million years ago.  It measured about thirty feet long from beak to tail and was a plant eater.  The genus name, Velafrons, translates to "sail forehead" and the species name is in reference to Coahuila, Mexico, where some of its remains have been found.  When alive, Velafrons would have coexisted with Coahuiliceratops. 

Velafrons life reconstruction by Christopher DiPiazza

Velafrons was a kind of hadrosaurid called a Lambeosaurine.  Lambeosaurine hadrosaurs tended to have had more narrow bills and elaborate crests on their heads, which were hollow and could have been used for producing sound.  Another example of a lambeosaurine hadrosaur is Parasaurolophus.  Velafrons was most closely related to Corythosaurus and Hypacrosaurus, however.  

Velafrons is known from a skull and partial skeleton.  It is believed that the remains found were actually from a juvenile animal so it could have possibly grown to have been even larger than thirty feet at older ages.  The crest may have also been larger in an adult as well.  Paleontologists hypothesize this because the crest of Velafrons is similar in shape to crests seen in juveniles of other, more completely known lambeosaurines, like Corythosaurus and Hypacrosaurus.  It is totally possible, however, that the Velafrons found was actually an adult after all and just had a...youthful look about it.

Velafrons skull at the Paleontology Museum of Guadalajara.

Like all hadrosaurs, Velafrons had a beak in the front of its mouth for clipping vegetation and hundreds of tightly packed teeth in the back of its mouth for chewing.  It could have walked on all four legs or reared up on its hind legs to run or reach higher leaves if it needed to.  The tails of hadrosaurs like Velafrons tended to be wide longitudinally (up and down ways) and stiff due to the way the vertebrae fit together. They would have been good counterbalances for when the dinosaurs were walking.  Hadrosaurs also likely used their tails like club-weapons to keep predators at bay if need be.

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

References

Gates, Terry A.; Sampson, Scott D.; Delgado de Jesús, Carlos R.; Zanno, Lindsay E.; Eberth, David; Hernandez-Rivera, René; Aguillón Martínez, Martha C.; and Kirkland, James I. (2007). "Velafrons coahuilensis, a new lambeosaurine hadrosaurid (Dinosauria: Ornithopoda) from the Late Campanian Cerro del Pueblo Formation, Coahuila, Mexico". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 27 (4): 917–930. doi:10.1671/0272-4634(2007)27[917:VCANLH]2.0.CO;2.

Morris Museum "Dino Day" 2014

April 26th was the Morris Museum's annual "Dino Day" in Morristown, New Jersey.  As always, the Jersey Boys were invited to help educate the public about paleontology.  This year we focused mostly on our work over the summer in New Mexico.

Our table before the doors opened and hordes of public rushed in.  No, the animals weren't suffocating in the boxes.

Close up of part of our table.  You can make out our Dryptosaurus casts and hadrosaur tooth. 

Then I got to do my fancy shmancy talk in the big theater this year.

I'm like Steve Jobs.

Of course some of my archosaur friends came along as well.  You just can't have Dino Day without them.

Elvis the Cuvier's Dwarf Caiman smiles big for the camera.

The New Jersey Paleontological Society was there too as always. 

Triadobatrachus: Prehistoric Animal of the Week

This past week was Earth Day, a time when everyone should do their best to not be irresponsible jerks to the environment we all share when, in fact, they should be doing every day. One animal that has become a sort of poster child for earth day and all things "green" and environmentally friendly is the frog.  Frogs, and other amphibians are more sensitive to their environments than most other animals because of their permeable skin, which they normally use to drink and breath through.  Because of this, when the air and/or water in an ecosystem becomes polluted, amphibians are usually the first ones to suffer.  Ecologists work closely with amphibians and use them as a sort of marker if they are present in a habitat.  If they are not (and there used to be or should be) we know something is wrong.  An animal, like an amphibian, whose presence indicates a healthy environment, is called a bioindicator. 

So what does this all have to do with Prehistoric Animal of the Week?  You should know by now that if there is a holiday of any kind, I try to make the weekly creature relevant in any way that I can.  Halloween, Easter, Cinco de Mayo, Mother's Day, World Tapir Day...anything is do-able for me. (yes, there is a World Tapir Day and it is totally sweet)  What better way to help celebrate Earth Day than by looking at the great granddaddy of all frogs?  Check out Triadobatrachus massinoti! 

Triadobatrachus massinoti by Christopher DiPiazza.

Triadobatrachus was the first known frog.  It lived 250 million years ago during the Early Triassic in what is now Madagascar.  It measured only about four inches long from snout to tail.  Going off of what we know about modern amphibians, it would be safe to assume that Triadobatrachus was a predator, swallowing any other creature small enough to fit in its mouth.  The genus name, Triadobatrachus, translates to "Triple Frog".

Triadobatrachus is an important fossil because it represents the oldest known member of the order, anura, which includes modern frogs and toads.  Like its modern relatives, Triadobatrachus would have been able to walk on land but was also at home in the water and would have gone there to breed.  It possessed a wide skull and had no ribcage.  A ribcage enables an animal that breathes with lungs structure and support to the chest as it expands and contracts.  Amphibians absorb oxygen through their skin so they don't need ribs.  Triadobatrachus' overall body shape was also very similar to modern frogs. 

Triadobatrachus fossil at the Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle in France.  The fossil is split between two halves of a rock that hardened from mud the animal was buried in, which leaves scientists with a beautifully preserved specimen!

Triadobatrachus had basal characteristics differ from those of its modern relatives as well.  Its hind legs were short, so it wouldn't have been much of a hopper.  It also had more vertebrae than modern frogs, a short tail, and its radius and ulna (lower arm bones) were not fuzed together. 

Close up I took of my colleague, "Igor", a Giant Marine Toad.  Toads and frogs are likely the modern descendants of Triadobatrachus.

That's all for this week!  Happy Earth Day and remember, always be kind to your planet.  Triadobatrachus may be extinct but it would be a real shame if its descendants that we share our world with went extinct as well because of us!  As always comment below or on our facebook page. 

References

Rage, J-C; Roček, Z. (1989). "Redescription of Triadobatrachus massinoti (Piveteau, 1936) an anuran amphibian from the Early Triassic". Palaeontographica Abteilung A, Palaeozoologie-Stratigraphie 206: 1–16.

Steyer, Sebastien. Earth before the Dinosaurs. Bloomington: Indiana UP, 2012. N. pag. Print.

Interview with Paleontologist: Mike Everhart

Today we will be looking at an interview with paleontologist, Michael Everhart.  I always admired Mr. Everhart and his work with marine fossils.  I was thrilled when he agreed to do an interview for Jersey Boys Hunt Dinosaurs!  

 Michael J. Everhart is a 1969 graduate of Wichita State University. After his military service (U.S. Army) he returned to Wichita State for his Masters Degree (1973).  He worked for the Wichita Sedgwick County Health Department for 12 years and served as the Environmental Health Director from 1981-1985. He was hired as the Environmental Affairs manager at the Boeing Company, where he retired after 17 years. Mike has been an Adjunct Curator of Paleontology at the Sternberg Museum of Natural History, Fort Hays State University, Hays, Kansas since 1998.

Mike is an expert on Late Cretaceous marine fossils of central and western Kansas, and on the history of paleontology in Kansas. In addition, he has worked with the T. rex, " Sue" exhibition at the Sternberg Museum in Hays, and Exploration Place in Wichita. Mike was a contributor to the BBC documentary "Chased by Sea Monsters" and served as one of the senior science advisers on the 2007 National Geographic IMAX film, Sea Monsters. His work has been featured in five made for television documentaries on the History and Discovery channels. 

Mike Everhart holding a Mosasaur skull.

Mike is the author of “Sea Monsters: Prehistoric Creatures of the Deep” (National Geographic, 2007) and “Oceans of Kansas – A Natural History of the Western Interior Sea” (Indiana University Press, 2005). The Sea Monsters book was awarded in 2008 by the American Library Association, and both titles were honored as Kansas Notable books. In addition, Mike has also written many papers describing the fossils of the Smoky Hill Chalk, including the 2005 naming of a new species of a marine reptile (mosasaur) from Kansas called Tylosaurus kansasensis. Most recently, Mike and co-author Alyssa Bell described two examples of the oldest bird fossils in North America, based on specimens that originated from Russell County, Kansas. 
 
He is the creator and webmaster of the educational “Oceans of Kansas Paleontology” web site: www.oceansofkansas.com which has been on the Internet since December, 1996.  He served as an editor of the Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science from 2006 to 2011 and is currently the Managing editor. Mike was President of the KAS in 2005. 

Mike and his dig crew in Kansas.

Question 1: Who did you admire growing up?

ME: I grew up in the 50s and 60s, so most of my heroes were baseball players (Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris, etc.) and cowboys (actors, at least… John Wayne, Randolph Scott, etc.).  I was also interested in military figures…. Robert E. Lee, for one.

Question 2: At what age did you get inspired to pursue a career in paleontology?

ME: About 9 or 10, I became interested in paleontology after reading Roy Chapman Andrews book, All About Dinosaurs. There are two chapters in that book about marine reptiles and pterosaurs from Kansas…. and at that point, I think I was hooked on fossils. I cannot honestly say I ever decided to pursue a career in paleontology… it just sort of happened.

Question 3: You are well known for your work with prehistoric marine life, specifically in the Late Cretaceous.  Did you choose that aspect of paleontology or did it choose you, so to speak?

ME: See answer to Question 2. Once I learned that these marine fossils came from Kansas, there was no point in going anywhere else.

Question 4: You have also authored a few books about prehistoric oceans.  What was that experience like?

ME: Well, first I have to say that I never intended to become an author.  I created the Oceans of Kansas web site in late 1996 and by 2000 or so, people were asking where they could buy the book….At that time, of course, there was no book, but it got me thinking that I certainly had enough things I could write about… When I proposed the idea to Indiana University Press, they jumped on it. There was no comparable book the time and they wanted one. So I sat down and started writing it. The first thing I learned was that I didn’t know nearly as much as I thought I did in many areas.  Writing the book turned out to be a real education for me. So much of what I had to say about paleontology in Kansas was historical… many fossils were literally discovered here first, starting in 1867 with Elasmosaurus. In the process of researching the book, I acquired a huge library of all the papers written by Cope, Marsh and many others, describing what they had discovered in the chalk of western Kansas. Everything came together over the next couple of years and Oceans of Kansas was published in June, 2005. The publisher was cautious, of course, and only printed about 2500 copies in the first press run. The thing that surprised us both was that they sold 1700 of those before the book was even printed in advance orders! Although it’s now almost 10 years old, the book continues to sell well and is one of their best selling books ever.

At the same time that I was working on the book, I was also working with National Geographic on a project documenting the discovery made Charles H. Sternberg. At first it was to be a magazine article and a TV special, but the documentary never worked out. Finally NG received funding from the NSF to make an IMAX movie called Sea Monsters, based on the same information. I was involved from the start as a science advisor (my name is even in the credits!)… but as we finished up the filming and the animations, NG realized that they needed a book to go along with the movie. At the time, Oceans of Kansas was selling nearly as fast as they printed it, so NG contracted with me to write the Sea Monsters book. After all the research on Oceans of Kansas, the writing went very quickly, especially since I wasn’t citing sources like I did on the first book. National Geographic provided all of the color photos and editing and the book came out at the same time as the movie. Of the two books, Oceans is still my favorite because I did everything, including the photography. Sea Monsters was sort of anticlimactic since I was more or less the “hired gun” in a big team of people that put the book together.

All in all, I’ve enjoyed the experience of being an author and sharing my knowledge of Kansas fossils and paleontologists.  I’ve got a couple of book ideas  on the back burner, including a second edition of Oceans of Kansas.

Question 5: What was your favorite prehistoric animal growing up?  What about now?

ME: I don’t remember having a favorite… Like most kids, I went through a “dinosaur phase” with Tyrannosaurusrex, Triceratops and Stegosaurus, but after reading All About Dinosaurs (Question 2) I really became interested in mosasaurs like Tylosaurus, and Pteranodon. Sixty years later, earlier this Spring, I was involved in getting both of these uniquely Kansas fossils named as the official state fossils of Kansas.  How cool is that?

Tylosaurus proriger by Christopher DiPiazza

Question 6: Paleontology is such a diverse field these days involving many disciplines.  What advice would you give to an aspiring paleontologist today?

ME: Start early and get as much science, math and computing as you can get in public school and college. Paleontology was a ‘classical’ science for many years, basically going out, finding the bones and digging them up. That’s not so anymore. We are getting so much more information about these prehistoric animals from studying their remains with all kinds of new technology. Tomorrow’s paleontologists will be spending more time examining these creatures with cutting edge technology than every before.

Question 7: Going to college these days and then on to grad school has become a daunting task. Many people are unaware of how long it takes to make it to the finish line. The rewards are great, but what would you say to someone pursuing professional studies after college?

ME: No matter what field you are in, the learning process doesn’t stop after graduation… it accelerates. Going into paleontology has it’s challenges… there is a lot of competition for relatively few jobs. You have to be the best at what you do and have multiple skills to be an asset to a future employer. No one is going to pay you to just pound on rocks. Get as much education as you can, learn to communicate (writing and reading skills are important). Beyond that, start now developing your contacts… Who you know in the business is important to your future.

Question 8: What was or is your favorite research project?  What are some of your current projects?

ME: My favorite research project has to be my first book, Oceans of Kansas. Along the way, I’ve done a lot of research on mosasaurs, plesiosaurs, sharks and birds with teeth, but those projects seem to blur together. Currently I am working describing the earliest occurrence of a marine turtle called Protostega gigas.

Question 9: Jurassic Park and Land Before Time (opposite ends of the spectrum I know) were the movies I remember as a kid that fueled my passion for dinosaurs.  What was your most memorable movie, book or TV program that inspired you with regards to paleontology?

ME: The one that sticks in my mind is Disney’s Fantasia. Even with its faults (animals from different time periods), seeing the animations in association with the music made a big impression on me. After that, I’d have to refer back to Question 2. 

Question 10: I remember meeting my first professional paleontologist.  Do you remember the first paleontologist you ever met?  Were you a nervous wreck?

ME: Hmmmm…. The first real paleontologist I ever met was my paleontology teacher in college. He was a crusty old guy who was a recognized expert on invertebrate fossils. At the time, however, I was more worried about the class I was taking from him. I was majoring in biology and the other seven guys in the class were geologists. I figured I was going to be in trouble. As turned out, the professor was a great teacher and I soon discovered that paleontology is mostly about biology, not rocks…. I aced the course.

Question 11: Dinosaurs and the animals that lived at the same time as them were amazing creatures.  Why do you feel they continue to fascinate us?

ME: Good question. It’s sad to think we care more about extinct animals (including the possibility of bringing one or more back using their DNA) than we do the tremendous variety of modern creatures now living on the Earth. Mostly I think that dinosaurs and such have been sensationalized by the media for nearly 200 years, and we don’t know any other way to think about them.

Question 12: What is your favorite time period?

ME: Other than now, I’d have to say the Late Cretaceous.

Question 13: Is there anything else you would like to share about yourself?  What hobbies do you have (not necessarily paleo-related).

ME: Being a biologist by training, I’m interested in living things, both plants and animals. I do some wildlife photography, raise orchids, and try to grow a garden. I like doing research, including the genealogy of my family, and I’m currently interested in leaning more about the people who discovered the first big fossils in Kansas…. but were not paleontologists. 

Thank you so much Mr Everhart!  

Massospondylus: Prehistoric Animal of the Week

It's Easter Sunday!  Like last year, we will be looking at another prehistoric animal that has a connection to eggs in the fossil record...because of Easter eggs...mmm.  Check out Massospondylus carinatus!  Massospondylus was a plant eating dinosaur that lived in what is now South Africa during the Early Jurassic Period between almost 200 to 183 million years ago. Most adults grew to about fifteen feet long from snout to tail.  The genus name, Massospondyuls, translates to "Long Vertebrae".

Massospondylus adult burying a clutch of eggs by Christopher DiPiazza.

Massospondylus was what we refer to as a basal sauropodomorph.  Basal sauropodomorph is the group of dinosaurs that we believe would eventually evolve to give rise to the largest land animals the earth has ever seen, the sauropods, like Apatosaurus and Giraffititan.  Plateosaurus, a close relative of Massospondylus, was another example of a basal sauropodomorph, or prosauropod, as they are also sometimes called.  Massospondylus was not that big compared to its later relatives but for it's time in the early Jurassic, it was relatively large for a dinosaur.

Massospondylus skull.  You can see all the small, leaf-shaped teeth that could have been useful for slicing tough plant material.

The oldest fossil dinosaur eggs ever discovered are from Massospondylus. The fossil site where these eggs have been found actually shows layers upon layers of nests that existed years apart from each other.  This means that the dinosaurs were returning to the same place to lay eggs over and over again every generation.  This sort of thing has actually been discovered a few times with extinct dinosaurs, specifically with sauropodomorphs.

Massospondylus eggs showing unhatched embryo inside one of them at the Royal Ontario Museum.  The eggs were laid in rows rather than just plopped in a pile, suggesting mom took at least some care with regards to her young, unlike many other reptiles.

Along with some eggs, unhatched Massospondylus embryos and young have also been uncovered.  The babies of this dinosaur are actually surprising in that they don't resemble the parents much at all.  Adult Massospondylus were pretty typical for basal sauropodomorphs with small heads, long necks and tails, and bipedal posture.  The babies, some of which are as small as six inches long, had really big heads, short necks (to support the huge noggins), walked on all fours, and were toothless!  Even more interesting, many baby skeletons were in the nest that were too big to have been just hatched.  That, combined with the fact that they were still toothless, suggests that the adults were caring for them in some form.  This is not consistent with what paleontologists believe about later, larger sauropod parental behavior, which consisted of simply laying the eggs and leaving the clutch and young to fend for themselves.  There could be a size limit somewhere in sauropod evolution that has a connection.  After all, when a parent is over one hundred feet long, as oppose to Massospondylus' modest fifteen feet, it may be more likely to accidentally step on its hatchlings than protect them!  One must ask how much good can a parent with that big of a size difference really be?

Baby Massospondylus eating some of its mom's spit up food by Christopher DiPiazza.  Since it had no teeth for cutting plants of its own and the fact that many modern relatives (birds) practice this method of feeding young, it could be plausible.  There is no actual evidence of it, however.

Parental care in some form or another is also present in many modern non-avian reptiles.  All crocodilians build, guard, and protect young, certain large snakes protect eggs by wrapping their bodies around the clutch and generating heat through muscle friction, even some lizards and testudines (turtles and tortoises) guard their young, as well!  Theorizing a primitive sauropodomorph did too isn't so crazy.

That is all for this week!  As always feel free to comment below or on our facebook page.  Also, special thanks to friend and paleontologist, Dr. Heinrich Mallison, for helping out with this week!  Having worked with prosauropods, he lent his expertise for the post and illustrations!

References

Bonnan, Matthew F.; and Senter, Phil (2007). "Were the basal sauropodomorph dinosaurs Plateosaurus and Massospondylus habitual quadrupeds?". In Paul M. Barrett & D. J. Batten (eds.). Evolution and Palaeobiology of Early Sauropodomorph Dinosaurs. Special Papers in Palaeontology 77. London: The Palaeontological Association. pp. 139–155.

Reisz, Robert R.; Diane Scott, Hans-Dieter Sues, David C. Evans, and Michael A. Raath (2005). "Embryos of an Early Jurassic prosauropod dinosaur and their evolutionary significance". Science 309 (5735): 761–764. Bibcode:2005Sci...309..761R. doi:10.1126/science.1114942. PMID 16051793.

Reisz, Robert R.; David C. Evans, Hans-Dieter Sues, Diane Scott (2010-11-01). "Embryonic Skeletal Anatomy of the Sauropodomorph Dinosaur Massospondylus from the Lower Jurassic of South Africa". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 30 (6): 1653, 1664. doi:10.1080/02724634.2010.521604. ISSN 0272-4634.

Reisz, Robert R.; David C. Evans, Eric M. Roberts, Hans-Dieter Sues, and Adam M. Yates (2012). "Oldest known dinosaurian nesting site and reproductive biology of the Early Jurassic sauropodomorph Massospondylus". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 109 (7): 2428–2433. Bibcode:2012PNAS..109.2428R. doi:10.1073/pnas.1109385109. PMC 3289328. PMID 22308330.

Yates, Adam M. (2012). "Basal Sauropodomorpha: The "Prosauropods"". In M. K. Brett-Surman, James O. Farlow, Thomas R. Holtz (eds.). The Complete Dinosaur (2. ed.). Indiana University Press. pp. 430, 435. ISBN 978-0-253-35701-4.