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From the latest research to pop culture, Dinosaur Tracking covers everything dinosaur!
Brian Switek
129 posts
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- July 8, 2011
- 10:37 AM
- 1,022 views
Kentrosaurus Had a Formidable Swing
by Brian Switek in Dinosaur Tracking
In one of my favorite bits of fossil terminology, the spiked tails of stegosaurs are known as "thagomizers." Get hit with a tail like that and you'd be turned into an instant shish kebab... Read more »
Mallison, H. (2011) Defense capabilities of Kentrosaurus aethiopicus Hennig, 1915 . Palaeontogia Electronica. info:/
- July 6, 2011
- 10:46 AM
- 872 views
Has a Tiny Tyrant Been Dethroned?
by Brian Switek in Dinosaur Tracking
A 2009 discovery of a new tiny tyrant has been called into question by a recently released study... Read more »
Fowler, D.; Woodward, H.; Freedman, E.; Larson, P.; Horner, J. (2011) Reanalysis of “Raptorex kriegsteini”: A Juvenile Tyrannosaurid Dinosaur from Mongolia. PLoS One, 6(6). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0021376
- June 17, 2011
- 10:56 AM
- 487 views
Peloroplites: That’s One Big Ankylosaur
by Brian Switek in Dinosaur Tracking
The "monstrous heavy one" was stout, armored and may have supported huge spikes on its neck and shoulders... Read more »
Carpenter, K.; Bartlett, J.; Bird, J.; Barrick, R. (2008) ANKYLOSAURS FROM THE PRICE RIVER QUARRIES, CEDAR MOUNTAIN FORMATION (LOWER CRETACEOUS), EAST-CENTRAL UTAH. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 28(4), 1089-1101. DOI: 10.1671/0272-4634-28.4.1089
- June 9, 2011
- 10:03 AM
- 528 views
Triceratops: An A Dinosaur
by Brian Switek in Dinosaur Tracking
Paleontologists have recently learned how these three-horned dinosaurs fought, grew up and socialized... Read more »
Farke AA, Wolff ED, & Tanke DH. (2009) Evidence of combat in triceratops. PloS one, 4(1). PMID: 19172995
Fujiwara, S. (2009) A reevaluation of the manus structure in Triceratops (Ceratopsia: Ceratopsidae). Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 29(4), 1136-1147. DOI: 10.1671/039.029.0406
- June 6, 2011
- 10:07 AM
- 502 views
Was Spinosaurus a Bison-Backed Dinosaur?
by Brian Switek in Dinosaur Tracking
Spinosaurus and Ouranosaurus were fundamentally different, and they remain among the most bizarre dinosaurs yet discovered... Read more »
Anonymous. (1998) Dino Fins More Like Humps?. Science, 279(5354), 1139-1139. DOI: 10.1126/science.279.5354.1139d
Bailey, J.B. (1997) Neural Spine Elongation in Dinosaurs: Sailbacks or Buffalo-Backs?. Journal of Paleontology, 71(6), 1124-1146. info:/
- April 19, 2011
- 10:40 AM
- 908 views
Just When You Thought Velociraptor Couldn’t Get Scarier
by Brian Switek in Dinosaur Tracking
Randall Munroe, the creator of the webcomic XKCD, isn’t going to like this one bit. Fear of attack by Velociraptor is a running theme in the science-themed series—lazy computer programmers should be especially wary—and two separate discoveries announced last week gave those with a phobia of raptors good reason to barricade the doors and windows. [...]... Read more »
Motani, R., & Schmitz, L. (2011) PHYLOGENETIC VERSUS FUNCTIONAL SIGNALS IN THE EVOLUTION OF FORM-FUNCTION RELATIONSHIPS IN TERRESTRIAL VISION. Evolution. DOI: 10.1111/j.1558-5646.2011.01271.x
Schmitz, L., & Motani, R. (2011) Nocturnality in Dinosaurs Inferred from Scleral Ring and Orbit Morphology. Science. DOI: 10.1126/science.1200043
- April 14, 2011
- 11:01 AM
- 920 views
Birds Inherited Strong Sense of Smell From Dinosaurs
by Brian Switek in Dinosaur Tracking
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22Qup626DTc Feathers, air sacs, nesting behavior—the earliest birds owed a lot to their dinosaurian ancestors. The first birds also inherited a strong sense of smell. Modern birds have not been thought of as excellent scent-detectors, save for some super-smellers such as turkey vultures, which detect the scent of rotting carcasses. We typically think of avians [...]... Read more »
Zelenitsky, D., Therrien, F., Ridgely, R., McGee, A., & Witmer, L. (2011) Evolution of olfaction in non-avian theropod dinosaurs and birds. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2011.0238
- April 13, 2011
- 10:07 AM
- 898 views
Daemonosaurus Shakes Up the Early History of Dinosaurs
by Brian Switek in Dinosaur Tracking
Evolution is not a constant march of onward-and-upward progress. Any organism is a mosaic of the ancient and the modern—old features can be modified and put to new uses over time—and the mechanism of natural selection accounts for both an apparent lack of change and dramatic evolutionary transformations. There is no driving force towards perfection, [...]... Read more »
Sues, H.; Nesbitt, S.; Berman, D.; Henrici, A. (2011) A late-surviving basal theropod dinosaur from the latest Triassic of North America. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 1-6. info:/10.1098/rspb.2011.0410
- April 12, 2011
- 01:32 PM
- 932 views
The Deep History of Dinosaur Lice
by Brian Switek in Dinosaur Tracking
Hunting dinosaurs is a dangerous business. Scores of fictional, time-traveling hunters have learned this lesson the hard way, but arguably the most unfortunate was the protagonist of Brian Aldiss’ short story “Poor Little Warrior.” All Claude Ford wanted to do was get away from his disappointing life and unhappy marriage by gunning down prehistoric monsters. [...]... Read more »
DALGLEISH, R., PALMA, R., PRICE, R., & SMITH, V. (2006) Fossil lice (Insecta: Phthiraptera) reconsidered. Systematic Entomology, 31(4), 648-651. DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-3113.2006.00342.x
Smith, V., Ford, T., Johnson, K., Johnson, P., Yoshizawa, K., & Light, J. (2011) Multiple lineages of lice pass through the K-Pg boundary. Biology Letters. DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2011.0105
Wappler, T., Smith, V., & Dalgleish, R. (2004) Scratching an ancient itch: an Eocene bird louse fossil. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 271(Suppl_5). DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2003.0158
- April 11, 2011
- 11:02 AM
- 891 views
How to Build a Dinosaur Den
by Brian Switek in Dinosaur Tracking
Oryctodromeus isn’t exactly a household name. A small, herbivorous ornithopod found in the Late Cretaceous rock of western North America, it was the sort of dinosaur most often depicted as being prey for charismatic carnivores. But there was at least one aspect of Oryctodromeus that made it particularly interesting—this dinosaur may have lived in burrows. [...]... Read more »
WOODRUFF, D., & VARRICCHIO, D. (2011) EXPERIMENTAL MODELING OF A POSSIBLE ORYCTODROMEUS CUBICULARIS (DINOSAURIA) BURROW. PALAIOS, 26(3), 140-151. DOI: 10.2110/palo.2010.p10-001r
- April 1, 2011
- 10:14 AM
- 1,035 views
A New Giant Tyrant, Zhuchengtyrannus
by Brian Switek in Dinosaur Tracking
“While 2010 was celebrated as the year of ceratopsians by many,” paleontologist Dave Hone wrote at Archosaur Musings yesterday, “it should not be overlooked the huge number of tyrannosaurs that have cropped up in the last year or so.” He’s right. For a long time Albertosaurus, Gorgosaurus, Daspletosaurus, Tarbosaurus and, of course, Tyrannosaurus made up [...]... Read more »
Hone, D.; Wang, K.; Sullivan, C.; Zhao, X.; Chen, S.; Li, D.; Ji, S.; Ji, Q.; Xing, X. (2011) A new tyrannosaurine theropod, Zhuchengtyrannus magnus is named based on a maxilla and dentary . Cretaceous Research. info:/10.1016/j.cretres.2011.03.005
- March 30, 2011
- 11:09 AM
- 917 views
Watch Out For That Thagomizer!
by Brian Switek in Dinosaur Tracking
Stegosaurus had a formidable tail. Studded with four long spikes, this dinosaur’s business end would have given Allosaurus and other Jurassic predators plenty of incentive to keep moving. But do we have any evidence that Stegosaurus really used its tail this way? Among paleontologists, the four-spiked tail of Stegosaurus is called a “thagomizer.” It is [...]... Read more »
Carpenter, Kenneth; Sanders, Frank; McWhinney, Lorrie A.; and Wood, Lowell. (2005) Evidence for predator-prey relationships: Examples for Allosaurus and Stegosaurus. The Carnivorous Dinosaurs, 325-350. info:/
- March 25, 2011
- 10:58 AM
- 918 views
The Tyrannosaur Tooth Toolkit
by Brian Switek in Dinosaur Tracking
When I was in elementary school, I was told that mammals and reptiles could easily be told apart by their teeth. Mammals had a full, enamel-covered toolkit in their mouths—incisors, canines, premolars, and molars suited to different tasks—while reptiles had only one kind of tooth. The dental differences were presented as one of the ways [...]... Read more »
Reichel, M. (2010) The heterodonty of Albertosaurus sarcophagus and Tyrannosaurus rex: biomechanical implications inferred through 3-D models. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 47(9), 1253-1261. DOI: 10.1139/E10-063
SMITH, J. (2005) HETERODONTY IN TYRANNOSAURUS REX: IMPLICATIONS FOR THE TAXONOMIC AND SYSTEMATIC UTILITY OF THEROPOD DENTITIONS. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 25(4), 865-887. DOI: 10.1671/0272-4634(2005)025[0865:HITRIF]2.0.CO;2
- March 22, 2011
- 10:33 AM
- 851 views
Finding the Family of Acrocanthosaurus
by Brian Switek in Dinosaur Tracking
Allosaurus has one of the dullest names in all of paleontology. The famous dinosaur’s moniker simply means “different reptile”—a bit of a letdown for one of the top predators of Jurassic North America. Early on, the name fit well—Allosaurus was a very unusual dinosaur compared to other large, predatory species—but since 1878 bone hunters have [...]... Read more »
Eddy, D., & Clarke, J. (2011) New Information on the Cranial Anatomy of Acrocanthosaurus atokensis and Its Implications for the Phylogeny of Allosauroidea (Dinosauria: Theropoda). PLoS ONE, 6(3). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0017932
- March 21, 2011
- 10:47 AM
- 940 views
Oxalaia: Brazil’s New, Giant Spinosaur
by Brian Switek in Dinosaur Tracking
Paleontologists have not found much of Oxalaia quilombensis. A fragment of the snout and a portion of the upper jaw are all that is known of this dinosaur. Even so, those two parts are enough to know that Oxalaia was one of the peculiar predatory dinosaurs known as spinosaurs, and a giant one at that. [...]... Read more »
KELLNER, A.; AZEVEDO, S.; MACHADO, A.; DE CARVALHO, L.; HENRIQUES, D. (2011) A new dinosaur (Theropoda, Spinosauridae) from the Cretaceous (Cenomanian) Alcântara Formation, Cajual Island, Brazil. Anais da Academia Brasileira de Ciências, 83(1), 99-108. info:/
- March 18, 2011
- 10:14 AM
- 926 views
Bite Marks Tell of Tussling Ichthyosaurs
by Brian Switek in Dinosaur Tracking
The prehistoric world was intensely violent. So I believed when I was a kid, anyway. Almost every book I read or movie I saw about now-fossilized creatures showed them as ferocious monsters that were constantly biting and clawing at each other. I spent hours with plastic toys and mud puddles reenacting these scenes myself, never [...]... Read more »
Zammit, M. and Kear, B.J. (2011) Healed bite marks on a Cretaceous ichthyosaur. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica. info:/10.4202/app.2010.0117
- March 17, 2011
- 09:50 AM
- 773 views
Always Brontosaurus to Me
by Brian Switek in Dinosaur Tracking
During the latter half of the 1980s, when I was just becoming acquainted with dinosaurs, “Brontosaurus” was just on its way out. A few of my books depicted the lumbering dinosaur, and a few museums still had the wrong heads on their skeletons, but the images of slow, stupid Brontosaurus were slowly being replaced by [...]... Read more »
BRINKMAN, P. (2006) Bully for Apatosaurus. Endeavour, 30(4), 126-130. DOI: 10.1016/j.endeavour.2006.10.004
- March 11, 2011
- 10:02 AM
- 1,033 views
Restoring Nedoceratops: Gored by a Horned Rival?
by Brian Switek in Dinosaur Tracking
What is Nedoceratops? That depends on who you ask. The single known skull could represent a transitional growth stage between Triceratops and Torosaurus head shapes in a single species of dinosaur, or it might be a unique species of horned dinosaur that lived alongside its better-known relatives. The suggestion that Nedoceratops was truly a Triceratops [...]... Read more »
Farke, A. (2011) Anatomy and Taxonomic Status of the Chasmosaurine Ceratopsid Nedoceratops hatcheri from the Upper Cretaceous Lance Formation of Wyoming, U.S.A. PLoS ONE, 6(1). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0016196
Lull, R.S. (1905) Restoration of the horned dinosaur Diceratops. American Journal of Science, 4(4), 420-422. info:/
- March 10, 2011
- 10:36 AM
- 878 views
Tapeworms, Trematodes and Other Dinosaur Pests
by Brian Switek in Dinosaur Tracking
In one short section of his book Parasite Rex, science writer Carl Zimmer asked a simple question: “Did tapeworms live in dinosaurs?” There is no reason to think they didn’t. Both the living descendants of dinosaurs (birds) and their crocodylian cousins harbor tapeworms, Zimmer pointed out, and so it isn’t unreasonable to imagine monstrous, prehistoric [...]... Read more »
POINAR, G., & BOUCOT, A. (2006) Evidence of intestinal parasites of dinosaurs. Parasitology, 133(02), 245. DOI: 10.1017/S0031182006000138
Wolff, E., Salisbury, S., Horner, J., & Varricchio, D. (2009) Common Avian Infection Plagued the Tyrant Dinosaurs. PLoS ONE, 4(9). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0007288
- March 9, 2011
- 10:37 AM
- 984 views
Tyrannosaurus Scat
by Brian Switek in Dinosaur Tracking
Tyrannosaurus ate flesh. That much is obvious. The reinforced skull and huge, serrated teeth of the tyrant dinosaur and its kin were not adaptations for cropping grass or cracking coconuts. Both predators and scavengers, the tyrannosaurs must have consumed massive amounts of meat to fuel their large bodies, and paleontologists have been fortunate enough to [...]... Read more »
CHIN, K., EBERTH, D., SCHWEITZER, M., RANDO, T., SLOBODA, W., & HORNER, J. (2003) Remarkable Preservation of Undigested Muscle Tissue Within a Late Cretaceous Tyrannosaurid Coprolite from Alberta, Canada. PALAIOS, 18(3), 286-294. DOI: 10.1669/0883-1351(2003)0182.0.CO;2
Chin, K., Tokaryk, T., Erickson, G., & Calk, L. (1998) A king-sized theropod coprolite. Nature, 393(6686), 680-682. DOI: 10.1038/31461
Erickson, G., & Olson, K. (1996) Bite marks attributable to Tyrannosaurus rex: Preliminary description and implications. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 16(1), 175-178. DOI: 10.1080/02724634.1996.10011297
VARRICCHIO, D. (2001) GUT CONTENTS FROM A CRETACEOUS TYRANNOSAURID: IMPLICATIONS FOR THEROPOD DINOSAUR DIGESTIVE TRACTS. Journal of Paleontology, 75(2), 401-406. DOI: 10.1666/0022-3360(2001)0752.0.CO;2
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