Discover Top Posts Tagged with #patagonykus

Colossi

By Rudolf Hima

A young Patagonykus first encounter with the giants she shared the land with, Futalognkosaurus.

#dinosaur #dinosaur art #paleoart #patagonykus #futalognkosaurus #rudolf hima #cretaceous

The Maniraptoran Alphabet (Part 3)

Part 3/5 of my dinosaur alphabet! Some of my favorite species in the whole set in this batch, but I'll let you guess which ones those are :)

#dinosaur #alphabet #maniraptoran #oviraptorid #alvarezsaurid #dromaeosaurid #therezinosaurid #khaan #linhenykus #microraptor #nothronychus #oviraptor #patagonykus #paleoart #illustration #artaneae

Trick or Treat!

Patagonykus!

#patagonykus #alvarezsaur #coelurosaur #dinosaur #halloween

Thursday 21/10/21 - Dinosaurs of the World Part 6; South America

An Alverazsaurid cleaning the teeth of a Giganotosaurus, Sergey Krasovskiy

As I discussed in the opening paragraphs of previous entries of this series, the earliest dinosaur expeditions were done mostly by European or North American palaeontologists, even when in other countries. In the early 1910s, American expeditions into Mongolia brought back Velociraptor, and in the 1970s, they found the famous Fighting Dinosaurs fossil where a Velociraptor and a Protoceratops are still entwined in combat in death. In the early 1910s-1920s, German expeditions were conducted throughout various parts of Africa, bringing to light the exciting specimens of Spinosaurus, Giraffatitan and Heterodontosaurus.

But there was an issue with these expeditions, almost none of the fossils stayed in their country of discovery. Those African discoveries went to Germany, and the Fighting Dinosaurs are still displayed prominently at the American Natural History Museum. I discussed in the India/Madagascar post that Barapasaurus was the first dinosaur to have a skeletal mount in India, in 1977. What I didn't mention is that to this day, Barapasaurus is still one of the only skeletal mounts of a dinosaur in India, most are in museums outside the country.

I bring this all up because although modern discoveries are more likely to be studied and displayed in their home country, fossil smuggling and stealing is still a huge issue in today's palaeontological community. Nowhere is this more of an issue than in South America, where many dinosaur fossils make their way to European or American museums through black market trades, or by illegal exportation. South America has had some of the most interesting and extreme dinosaur discoveries, but despite strict laws in Brazil for example, where Brazilian fossils must be studied strictly in Brazil, fossils are still being stolen from native land, and displayed overseas.

I don't wanna get too preachy, but some of the dinosaurs I'm discussing today have been at the centre of some controversial and disrespectful practices, and I thought it important to give context before I get into it all. But without further ado, lets discuss some South American Dinosaurs!

Ubirajara jubatus

Ubirajara, TheDinosaurMann (twitter/furaffinity)

Ubirajara was a Compsagnathid theropod from Early Cretaceaous Brazil. Its fossil was discovered in a chalk mine in North Eastern Brazil in 1995 but was illegally exported to Germany, where its fossils were studied, described, and remain to this day. The Brazilian Palaeontological Community have campaigned for the return of the remains to Brazil, but there has been no luck so far.

Its genus name, Ubirajara (you-bee-rah-jar-ah), comes a South American native language called Tupi, and translates into "Lord of the Spear", referring to the large keratinous spines erupting from the base of its neck. Given their structure, these spines were most definitely meant for display. A variety of simple spines of various sizes run down the neck and back of Ubirajara, leading experts to think it had very advanced sexual display features, comparing the dinosaur to the modern Peacock. In life, Ubirajara was about 40cm tall at the shoulder, and 1 m long from nose to tail tip.

Patagonykus puertai

Patagonykus, Emily Stepp

Patagonykus was an Alvarezsaurid theropod from Early Cretaceous Argentina. Patagonykus translates in Greek to "Patagonian Claw", and that "claw" singular is very fitting for such a dinosaur. Alvarezsaurs like Patagonykus were a highly derived group of theropods that were seemingly adapted for an insectivorous lifestyle. Their narrow snouts were suited for pushing into tree hollows or insect nests, and some scientists think they may have had long tongues. Although not confirmed in all Alvarezsaurs, many, like the Mongolian Shuvuuia or Patagonykus itself, have evidence of a hand with a single claw. This one fingered hand was not vestigial however, and palaeontologists think that Patagonykus used this claw to dig into the ground or tree bark to uncover insects to eat. Patagonykus was one of the larger Alverezsaurids, at least 1 m long.

Amargasaurus cazaui

Amargasaurus, @alphynix (tumblr)

Amargasaurus was a Dicraeosaurid sauropod from Early Cretaceous Argentina. I described the family's namesake, Dicraeosaurus, in the episode on Africa. Like all Dicraeosaurids, it had a shorter neck for a sauropod, as well a smaller body size in general, it was 2.7 m tall at the shoulder and around 10 m long; a large animal, but small for a sauropod. Amargasaurus was named for La Amarga, a town nearby its site of discovery, and although it has no bearing on the animal itself, Amarga is Spanish for "bitter". The most unique aspect of this dinosaur's anatomy is the dual row of spines rising from the base of the neck, all the way up the Amargasaurus's head. Some paleoartists portray these spikes as supporting a skin sail, but many suspect they were bare in life, and may have served as defense against ancient Argentina's large predators.

Carnotaurus sastrei

Carnotaurus, Roberto Akeiron

Carnotaurus was a large Abelisaur theropod from Late Cretaceous Argentina. Due to the completeness of its fossils, it is one of most well-studied dinosaurs of the southern hemisphere. Its name means "meat eating bull", referring to its pair of large brow horns. I have previously written about the absurd anatomy of this dinosaur: Mouth on Legs; Carnotaurus, so I'll just briefly discuss the main points here.

Carnotaurus was a very agile and slim theropod. Its muscular legs and tail made it well adapted for sprinting, quickly chasing its prey. Its skull was short and strangely elastic, leading palaeontologists to believe it may have been able to flex its jaw like modern pythons, to swallow larger portions of food. Given its almost certainly vestigial arms, which did not even have a proper elbow, it would've hunted almost exclusively with its mouth. Modern interpretations think it would've hunted large sauropods, bring them down with multiple savage bites to the neck. Its horns were unlikely to be used in hunting, so its thought they were used in intraspecific sexual display or head butting contests. It was a really weird animal, so please read my other article if you're interested.

Eoraptor lunensis

Eoraptor, tnilab-ekneb121 (deviantart)

Eoraptor was an Early Saurischian dinosaur from Late Triassic Argentina. Its genus name means "Dawn Plunderer", referring to its grasping hands, and that it was one of the earliest true dinosaurs we have found so far. Its species name, lunensis, refers to Valle de la Luna, where it was found. Eoraptor was one of the first dinosaurs, and when it was alive, the Earth was ruled by stem-mammals, crocodile relatives and large amphibians. Given how primitive its skeletal traits are, it is uncertain whether Eoraptor was a basal Sauropod, Theropod, or maybe even before the two groups split. Its skull and claws were unspecialised for any sort of advanced predatory behaviour, but palaeontologists conclude it likely ate small lizards, fish, and insects. It would have been around 30 cm tall and 1 m long.

Austroraptor cabazai

Austroraptor, AdrianArt (Artstation)

Austroraptor was a large Dromeosaur theropod from Late Cretaceous Argentina. It was a strangely shaped dinosaur and one of the largest species of raptor dinosaur ever, about 1.5 tall at the shoulder and 6 m long from nose to tail tip. Austroraptor means "Southern Thief", as most dromeosaurs had been found in the northern hemisphere. The specific subgroup Austroraptor was from, the Unenglaniiae, had longer legs than most dromeosaurs, implicating a capacity for long distance pursuit rather sprinting like in Velociraptor. Austroraptor also a longer snout, possibly hinting at a fish-eating diet.

Oxalaia quilimbensis

Oxalaia, Alexander Vieira

Oxalaia was a large Spinosaurid Theropod from Late Cretaceous Brazil. This dinosaur was first described in 2011, around the same time the new specimens of Spinosaurus were discovered, and new studies have brought up the possibilty of Oxalaia being a subspecies of Spinosaurus, so it may become Spinosaurus quilimbensis. It is known from partial skull remains, teeth, and spinal vertebrae, but since the remains found so far mostly closely resemble Spinosaurus, that is what most reconstructions depict it as looking. Given the material available, it would've been slightly smaller than Spinosaurus aegyptiacus, about 12-14 m long, and 5-6 m tall. Oxalaia is named for the African deity Oxalá, introduced to South America during European slavery period, perhaps mirroring how Oxalaia is a South American Spinosaur known from a mostly African group.

Dreadnoughtus schrani

Dreadnoughtus, Mark Witton

Dreadnoughtus was a large Titanosaur Sauropod from Late Cretaceous Argentina. It has one of the most complete skeletons for a Titanosaur, and partially as a consequence of this, we can fairly confidently conclude that Dreadnoughtus was the largest dinosaur ever (at least so far discovered). Titanosaurs in South America reached monstrous sizes, likely as a defensive measure against predators. Dreadnoughtus was 6 m tall at the shoulder, and 26 m long, estimated to have weighed 60 tonnes, making it likely the largest land creature to have ever walked the earth. It's genus name, Dreadnoughtus, means "fears nothing", because the palaeontologist who described Dreadnoughtus thought it deserved credit for being such an impressively tough dinosaur.

Giganotosaurus carolinii

Giganotosaurus, Cheung Chung Tat

Not to be confused with Gigantosaurus, a Jurassic English Sauropod, Giganotosaurus, was a Late Cretaceous Carcharodontosaur Theropod from Argentina. It's name means "Great Southern Lizard", and depending on size estimates, Giganotosaurus may have been the greatest theropod there was. It was estimated to be almost 4 m tall at the hip and 12-14 m long, as larger or maybe large than Tyrannosaurus. Giganotosaurus and other Carcharodontosaurs were generalist predators, eating anything they could fit in their mouth, although they probably could've taken down titanosaurs if they worked as a group.

Thanks for Reading

Even moreso than my Asian Dinosaurs post, this list was overpopulated by theropods, but in my defence, South America was the most dangerous place on Earth in the Cretaceous Period. There were many South American dinosaurs I didn't get to list, which is a shame because palaeontologists in the region have a lot of fun naming dinosaurs. My personal favourites by name are Irritator, Ninjatitan, and Thanos.

Next time I'm gonna finally cover North America. Luckily for me, the difficulty of narrowing down a list of iconic Dinosaurs from the most iconic Palaeontological region is made easier by the fact that North America was split into two land masses during the Age of Reptiles, so I will be covering North America in two parts.

<< Part 5: Europe || Part 7: North America (Appalachia)